Andy “AJ” Wilson-Taylor rides Rory, his trusty motorbike, throughout Europe and Scandanavia this summer on a music and filmmaking quest. He’s two-thirds of the way through this three month Odyssey, sharing photos and captions all along the way. He posted this one today and it struck a chord.

“It’s through the struggles that we grow” —Melissa Orth-Fray
It’s been over eleven years since I started a regular fitness program, and I’m stronger now than ever in my life, having come through ACL rupture and reconstruction, among other struggles. Daughter is graduated from high school and headed to college in the fall, also having come through more than her fair share of life challenges. Looking back at my 51 and her 18 years, I see both copious joy and serious pain, and loads of strength, resilience, and growth.

So how has all of that shaped each of us, and both of us together? How has our family formed, deformed, and reformed through and around each and all of our respective trials?

I have no experience on motorcycles, so I assume ‘leaning into the gales’ is something one does to remain both stable and mobile on a bike through high winds. Son sails boats; I bet he knows something about that–it’s called tacking, right? When and where else, literally and figuratively, must we ‘lean in’ against and toward adversity to get where we’re going, to stay our course?

Or maybe we don’t actually stay any course? Certainly we choose many roads in life, and some winds still blow us onto and down paths that we would never have chosen. And here we are, having lived them all, and we keep going.

Headwinds do shape us. They affect our posture, choice of gear, timing, speed, and of course direction. Compared to tailwinds, wow, what a difference–I feel it body, mind, and spirit, just thinking and writing about it.

And then there are crosswinds, too! I wonder about all the ways AJ had to lean Rory on those mountain roads in Iceland today to stay steady and upright? If headwinds are like resistance to forward progress, maybe crosswinds are like distractions, detours, and derailments? Regardless, no day in life is without weather of some kind, and we get to choose how we engage.

Resistance trains us, makes us more alert, stronger, and resilient. It helps us appreciate when we can glide and rest. It teaches us about energy conservation and the aspects of power. It shows us our limits as well as our capabilities.

Leaning into the gales, indeed. Here we go, onward.