Issue #19: I Did What I Said I Would Do

I am not a fan of self-help books. After reading many of them, you find out that most are trite, and their main points can be distilled into a few pages. But that wasn’t the case with James Clear’s Atomic Habits. I learnt practical ideas that I use in my life today. One of the ideas is identity-based habits, the idea that our behaviours reflect our identity. Our habits mirror who we believe we are, so if one wants to build lasting habits, one needs to create a new identity by constantly doing things (small or big) that prove that identity to one’s self. 

My view of myself is that I am a conscientious self-starter. I am sufficiently self-motivated and rarely need external stimuli to do anything. When embarking on a new activity and the going starts getting tough, I have enough within me to keep me going. And I constantly do things to prove that to myself. I started building a new podcast app because I thought the ones I currently use don’t solve my most egregious pain point, I decided to start writing at least once a week because I want to become a better writer, and I decided to cycle from London to Oxford.

On Saturday, May 21 2022, I completed the 86.2km bicycle ride from West London to Oxford City Centre in 4 hours 29 minutes (total cycle time). It is the most arduous physical activity I have ever done, but the views along the way and the burst of happiness I felt at the end made the pain worth it. I will do it all over again. The part circled in red in the route image below was the most challenging part of the trip for me. I almost cried, cycling up that monstrous hill.

I left London around 7 am and got to my destination in Oxford at 1:36 pm. I cycled past quiet villages, quaint cottages, farms, and forests. After the 60km mark, I stopped in a little town called Thame to eat a sandwich and drink coffee. The people there were charming. Everyone seemed calm and at ease. People said hello as I walked past, and I was left bewildered because people in London wouldn’t even look your way if you fell on the floor writhing in pain. I grew up in a relatively small, tranquil town, so experiencing that again made me miss home, and I think it watered a seed that has been sprouting in me for a year or so now - Leave London!

The trip was mostly without hassle, save for when I was bombing down a hill and missed my turn out of excitement. I got lost and spent about ten minutes getting back on track. I think that was the only time on the trip I got scared because after finding my way back, the route led into an imposing forest. All I could hear were strange animal noises and cooing birds. It made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. I pedalled furiously through that section of the route, and it eventually opened up into another beautiful village.

The beautiful villages and the quaint cottages were not the only things that amazed me. I almost marvelled at the beauty of everyday technology, technology that are so reliable that we take them for granted. Global Navigation Satelitte Systems (GNSS), the most popular of which is the Global Positioning System (GPS) is one of those technologies. The only reason I could find my way from London to Oxford without having to log around bulky physical maps (who even knows how to read those things these days?) is because some brilliant people put satellites in space that we now use to find our way around the world. It blows my mind, to be honest. If you are interested in learning about the history of GPS, you can find it here.

I enjoyed my Oxford trip so much that I am now planning a longer trip to Brighton for next month. I am excited!