Transitions exist on a range of varying scope and size. Sometimes they’re small, encompassing mere moments, a brief lapse before you’re headed off in a new direction. Others take longer, years perhaps, decades, even lifetimes. Some of these transitions happen easily, even naturally, while others are forced to come about. It seems like a law of nature that the bigger transitions are necessarily slower, often more difficult, and they usually have the biggest impact.
Twice a year I undertake the challenging transition of packing all my belongings and moving thousands of miles to re-establishing my life, all without a personal automobile. While years of practice have made some aspects of this shift easier and less painful, every time I still manage to encounter new obstacles, and continue to learn valuable lessons while navigating them.
This spring’s move came with it’s own unexpected surprises, but despite the difficulties I still find myself heading in a direction I feel good about, and as with any change, sometimes that’s the best you can hope for. As we begin what will be our fourth summer of car-free life and bicycle powered adventure, this recent transition has given me ample opportunity to consider where these choices in lifestyle have brought me, and how they are shaping my future and current opportunities.
Living without an automobile and pursuing the goals and dreams of a climber and adventurer is not easy, but while I continue to learn, adapt, and refine my approach to climbing, life, and mobility, in many ways it gets easier as I gain experience. There are, however, some things that do not change, some things that do not get easier, and some things that appear to accumulate weight, or add in difficulty as time goes on. Mainly I’m speaking of the actions, attitudes, and habits of those around me. Regardless of my passion for this concept, my choices in mobility have in large part alienated myself from friends, family, and my community. Time exists on a different scale for those moving by human power, and despite the fact that I live in a world where industrialized transportation is the status quo, I still feel compelled to live with the understanding that the time to burn fossil fuels for energy is long over, and by continuing to do so we put ourselves and all life in great risk.
I want this to stop. I want us to transition to a healthier and saner society but I understand this kind of transition is not easy, small, or fast. Like that natural law, transitions this large will naturally be fraught with strife and struggle. I’m trying to be patient, trying to understand, but the truth is that I might never see the end of this transition, my perspective of time and speed being too nearsighted to account for the pace of great change.
Does it change anything knowing you might never get to see the fruit of your labor? Absolutely, but it doesn’t change the fact that if your belief is strong enough, that can carry you through a lifetime. Time will tell where we go from here. All around me I see the need for drastic change and the opportunity for creative solutions, yet so many seem willing to carry on until our world is the burnt remains of a beautiful memory. When I think about working so hard to help change something so much bigger than yourself, what really strikes me is the question of how much this effort has changed me. In working for this shift, this transition to a new concept of mobility, how has my own character changed? What is the difference between an individual who’s life is devoted to one goal, one transition, and another who s constantly shifting and progressing in their direction? This is not to say that I feel this path has stifled me, or that I have ceased to learn and progress, but more just a reflection on the state of our world and it’s habit of breeding fundamentalism and polarity.
This spring wasn’t the transition I was expecting, certainly not the one I was hoping for, but I’m here, I’m happy, I’m healthy, and I’m hopeful. For now, I’m still headed in this same direction but my mind is open to the opportunities and possibilities of a different future. All I can hope is to continue to learn and grow, to become a more honest, kind, and understanding individual, but when I look back on the past few weeks and the past few years, one thing is for certain: whether through habit or progress I have become a zealot, and as much as I might like to think there’s a way out, this lifestyle is slowly becoming my fate, my fortune, and my fable.
I often think about this story, and how it will be told once it is finished. How humanity once lived and moved by burning fossil fuels, and how they badly damaged the Earth and our Environment in doing so. It strikes me as a human rights story, as all humans have the right to a safe and healthy Earth, and I think that when the transition is complete, we will look back not with a longing or compassion for the proselytizers, but with an understanding that this outcome was inevitable, that there was always an undercurrent for this future, but that it was held back by the fear, greed, and ignorance of a shortsighted society.
We are in need of a great transition, and while I hope that some amount of effort, just the right words, or the perfect opportunity might help it come about more quickly, I know that all I can do is keep pushing forward, one pedal stroke at a time.
