What would you have done?
“The naïve believes everything, but the prudent man considers his steps.” Prov 14:15
This is the question I have for you this morning.
What I am about to tell you is a true story. It sounds like an oxymoronic cliché. I know. But what I am about to tell you is not something I made up, it is true and did happen to me.
Here it goes.
I have been down with flu for the past two days, after exposing myself to dust when I went out to get some fresh air over the weekend. So much for that. Because of the flu, I had somewhat of a restless night. I slept after 9 PM and found myself twisting and turning for much of the night. After a while, for reasons I can not explain, I reached for my phone to check the time. Phew! I said mumbled; it is 5 AM! Time to get up. To hit the snooze button or not to hit the snooze button? That was not the question. I decided to continue my sleep for the proverbial few minutes. The next time I checked the time, I saw it was almost 6:30 AM. I can’t miss my morning exercise routine no matter how late.
So, I hopped out of bed, straight into the bathroom to wash my face. Yep! That is the magic. I was ready. I put on my cycling bib, socks shoes and gloves. I am in my room, for heaven’s sake. So yes, I had no top on. Focus on the story, please. Next, I hooked up all my gadgets. Laptop on and connect to the WiFi from my phone, then signed in to my cycling app — ZWIFT. Over to the bike that is erected on a smart simulator — Tacx Flux. I powered the simulator on, connected to the bike computer (Garmin 1000). I was all set and go.
I hit the pedals, cranking warm-up speeds of between 20–25 Kmph for ten minutes. At about four minutes into my workout ride proper, which was now at between 27–30 Kmph, I decided to check other indicators on my dashboard — hear rate, cadence, power etc. Why not check the time while you are at it. To my utter shock, the time read 3:55 AM. What? That is impossible. Did I not just get out of bed at almost 6:30 AM. Stop! Time on the laptop? 03:55 AM, on my wristwatch? 03:55 AM and on my phone? — 03:55 AM. This is weird, I thought. Still, as at the time of typing which is some five hours later, I cannot explain how I got the time so wrong. Now I am standing in the middle of my room between my bed and bicycle, drenched in sweat in my cycling gears and wondering.
Right there I know you asked the question or you were hoping I will tell you. Well, the point of this post was to ask you this question.
If you were in my shoes, what would you have done? (And by the way, I have been asked this question this morning but under a different circumstance.)
The options are:
A. Get back on the bike and continue riding
B. Go to bed for an hour and come back to riding at 05:00 AM
C. Go to bed and call it quits on exercise for the morning
D. Other? Please state
We do face such scenarios in real life issues. In the case of my above predicament, my chosen course of action will determine how the rest of my day will pan out. The same will be in real life.
The decisions we make when we face dilemmas of whether we need
to push on or rest,
to act or delay,
to put off work because we think we still have time
These decisions will determine how the rest of our careers will go, or how successful our business ventures will be and even how happy we will be.
So choose wisely.
