nancy sv

I think that is most of the problem - all four of us are pretty down right now. In the past, maybe I was tempted to throw in the towel, but the others were going strong. Or John would be down while I was OK. this time, we are all down.

that being said, I think things are starting to turn around. We arrived here in Trujillo in bad need of a break. We planned a whole week off the bikes to relax. However, we ended up with an incredibly frustrating 6 days waiting for the mechanic - and were getting increasingly more furious each day. Now that the bikes are rebuilt and we aren't sitting around waiting for him any more, we can finally relax. This is what we had hoped to do last week. Maybe it really is all we needed - I guess we'll find out in a day or two.

The Impossipede

I'm a little late to this party, but I'll throw my two cents in anyway.

That a funk could happen to you proves it can happen to anyone. Sometimes you just simply have to endure the interval. I would just like to say that since time is not pressing for you, I would try to not think of the mechanic as "burning up" your days in Trujillo, but simply as having delayed them. That is, just start doing things the way you'd planned on doing them but with tomorrow as the start date.

Al Downie

Surely it all depends on your reason for cycling? If you're cycling to get to Patagonia, then yes, keep your head down, keep on plugging, and look forward to a better day. If you're cycling because you want to 'live the dream', then surely you should be enjoying it, and if you aren't enjoying it then it ain't that good a dream. And if you're cycling because you think you've gone this far and you'll be somehow letting yourself and others down by giving it up - because you feel obligated to 'the goal' - then you need to stop and smell the flowers.

I don't know nuthin 'bout nuthin, but my advice would be to forget about goals, forget about the opinions of others, sleep well, and have a good breakfast. Best meal of the day you know. Who cares where the bike takes you after that?

Niles H.

Sometimes the bad stuff keeps getting replayed or relived in memory. It helps a lot to apply more awareness to this, and to realize that thoughts have qualities that affect your emotions and moods and energy levels. Some are depressing, others are the opposite.

It's also possible to let all the thoughts go, and instead be with immediate awareness rather than thoughts and memories.

Music can help a lot too. Swimming can turn things around (I don't know the mechanism or why exactly it works, but I've seen it work for me and for others too many times to deny or ignore the effects).

Sunlight and joyful company can help -- also, good jokes and humor.

rumrunn6

can you start dating a new guy?

nancy sv

Maybe that's the problem!