Bike Journal: being outdoors and disconnecting

Living and working in the city doesn't easily dispose one to being outdoors very often. Especially during New England winters, my daily habits consist of waking up, transporting myself from home to work, sitting at a desk in front of a computer for 8 hours, then transporting myself back home for the night-- often in front of Netflix or Blizzard.net to unwind. You know how it is.

 Unless you add a gym or other exercise session into your probably busy schedule, you can quickly turn into a sedentary being that simply moves about from one indoor space to another.

 There are many reasons I'm so thankful that I am able to bike to work every day. One big one is that I am able to both exercise and get to and from work in the same breath. That, coupled with the fact that I can best a subway commute time every day, makes my efficiency-loving self incredibly happy. I'm also saving a crap-ton of money by not having to purchase a monthly subway pass or own a car.

 This week I realized one new reason that I love biking to work-- being in the outdoors. It may not be the same as camping or hiking in the White Mountains, but biking in the city is still an opportunity for getting fresh air. I feel like being able to disconnect from my usual screen-to-screen habits and pedaling down the streets clears my head and gives me space to think and reflect.

 I don't remember the source, but I read an article a while back on the effects of continual use of computers and mobile phones. In it, the author said that one overlooked detriment was that by constantly reading, watching, and clicking all day long, we're depriving our brains of a kind of negative space that helps boost imaginative thinking. Day dreaming, if you will. It's almost like sleep-- we don't understand exactly why we need sleep, but it is necessary to life. In the same way, those occasional moments of down time that used to be our frequent companions apparently help our minds take a break and just relax.

 I know that if I was on the subway I would 9 times out of 10 be looking at my phone. Biking home after work forces me to disconnect from text messages and Facebook. For those 45 minutes the only things going on in the world that I know of are physically inside the 40' radius around me. I am free to process happenings of the day, while remaining alert and cautious biking, of course! And I can move as fast or slow as my legs will take me.