New perspectives

Originally composed on 8/10/12:

     It's funny how things evolve. In my last post, I noted a lack of excitement around the job change. Technologies I know marching to the beat of a different engineer can really introduce a lot of uncertainty. Maybe when I was younger I discounted the effect of the company and overestimated my own ability to conquer any deployment no matter how deficient or haphazard it was. Whatever the reason I was cool (or maybe lukewarm) to the idea of changing jobs. Now here it is Friday and I am beginning to feel the real draw of this new position. For whatever reason (confidence in me or simply too busy to hold the reins) I have been granted nearly carte blanche access with the mission to fix, build, and generally improve where possible.
     I've noticed something similar in my cycling as well but my response to it has been much different. I have always planned my rides. Always. I scour maps looking for new roads but always with the new route is the question of "how long will it take?" That is how my riding is defined...until the preparation for the Tour Divide started. I simply removed a self-imposed limitation to answer the "how long will it take" question. It sounds ridiculous but the proof was immediate albeit anecdotal. The longest ride I had done before I stopped answering the question was 60 miles. The first day I ignored the question? 130 miles. So here is an environment I've known well for 37 years, and finally in my 43rd year I accept the new rules, and the future is finally defined by what might be possible as opposed to what I have done.
     As cheesy as movie lines are sometimes they can clarify a jumbled mess and I love the Morpheus line from The Matrix, "there's a difference between knowing the path and walking the path." From that I have begun telling myself "knowing feeds doing." It doesn't quite get across the pointlessness of knowing for its own sake, but I like the brevity (because usually I am NOT!) and it can always be improved.