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The Wind on Your Side

Riding, Pictures, and Writing

By Richard PilandPublished 6 years ago 3 min read
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Late summer, late evening ride found me here.

Finding moments of bliss and beauty is essential to a life filled with joy. No matter how small or short that moment is, enjoy it wholly. Let that feeling compel you to greater things, and let the stress of everyday life fade at least for a little while.

In this way and age most people spend too much time multitasking their lives away. Information overload, the constant stimuli can be draining and affect all aspects of one's health. Other things that cause similar issues is grief of a lost loved one, constant familial or financial stress, among other factors. Learning to get past these can be hard. Finding ways to remove yourself from these thoughts can be even harder.

One thing I’ve learned to help in these situations is with hobbies. I ride, work on art, or just some stress-free games help bring me back to a feeling of normalcy. Sometimes, it even takes a mixture of these that helps push past that stress barrier and bring me a moment of true peace in my core. Let me tell you about this one such instance in detail.

The wind through the trees will knock you around when riding down the backstreets of the Wisconsin countryside if you're not careful. Each gust will waken your senses, each calm will remind you of sweet dreams and passing things. Each time I get on that motorcycle and ride, I'm reminded why I wanted it in the first place: freedom.

When I started the ride on this particular day, I was not in the best place mentally. I was under grief of a lost family member, simultaneously annoyed at one of my children's particular disdain for his own birthday at the tender age of five. I shook my head, grabbed my riding gear and warmed up the bike. It was time to take a short break. My wife gave disapproving looks and just said don’t be gone for too long.

I put on my jacket, helmet, and gloves. My beautiful, turquoise Honda Shadow revs beautifully. I saddle up, click the shifter into first gear, and get on the road. I head down a couple blocks, turn onto a main road in town, then turn off to abroad I know will lead out of town on a nice long stretch of asphalt that flows through farmland.

Fifteen miles of farm road, I turn at an intersection that headed west by southwest. Riding a comfortable speed of fifty-five miles an hour, I watched as the late afternoon sun passed through some clouds. After a few curves in the road, I see the sun just topping an interestingly sprawled outstretch of clouds in the sky. I curved southwards slightly, then curved back towards the west and came to a halt.

I stared at the sky for a few moments, saddled upon my trusty metal steed, gazing upon a wondrous display in the heavens. To keep the memory fully planted, I pull out my hands from my gloves and grab my phone. Two pictures followed, the second being the one above.

I felt uplifted. I shortly returned to my ride, feeling blissful and without a care in the world as I made my way back home. When I finally arrive, I turned off the motorcycle, smiling as I return to the issues of life at hand.

Things like this, finding beauty in life and in art, that's what we need. Some find it through music, some through the tapestry of time, and others just simply being out in the world. Take some time to find that beauty in each day, take hold of it and let the stress melt away.

healing
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About the Creator

Richard Piland

Writer, Artist, Motorcyclist, Student all wrapped into one. A random assortment of hobbies follows suit in different fashions for your reading pleasure. Lives in Wisconsin, raised Texan.

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