Significant Outcomes in the Face of Adversity

# When You Are on Your Path…

Posted by Dave Cooke on Jul 23, 2025 in Commitment, Focus, Uncategorized, Vision | 0 comments

Like everyone else I have those moments in my life where I need some inspiration, too. Most of what I share with you via these posts are the conversations I have been having with myself. Instead of keeping these conversations private — between me and my head — I make them public hoping you will find an inspirational resource in them much like I usually do.

Over the past few weeks I have had a couple of powerful experiences that reminded me in a not-so-subtle-way that I must continue to trust and stay on the path in my journey. There are days where I really struggle with trusting the path I am on and the decisions I make relative to my vision and commitments. My current 100Day Challenge is to honor my commitment to the passion of my vision for 100Pedals. Both of these recent incidents reminded me to stay focused on my commitment and trust the path I am on.

Experience #1:

I usually pre-post my daily inspirational messages to my social media platforms at the beginning of the week. I do this when I am in the moment, have the time, and do not want interrupt the creative, inspirational process. Since I usually post my thoughts in advance, I sometimes forget what I posted or where until I see them on a social media site.

Last Friday I was meeting with a good friend and sharing my story about 100Pedals and my vision for 100Pedals Across America. I openly shared with him my concerns, fears, doubts, as well as the my passion behind the idea in the first place. He was very intrigued about my commitment and supportive of my vision. In response to my concerns and fears, he commented, “sometimes the road we need to take isn’t always the easiest one.” His comments nearly knocked me off my feet because my 100Pedals inspiration that day was “the practical road may not be the easiest path; wise is the person brave enough to take it.” He had not seen my quote, he was simply sharing from his heart a very powerful message to me.

At that moment I realized that what I was doing, where I was going, was the correct path. Whatever fears, concerns, worries that I had were understandable; but, I had to trust this message as supportive of the path I was on regarding my vision and mission.

Experence #2:

One morning as I was preparing for my morning bike ride, I quickly scanned my social media sites. I noticed a direct message from a friend in response to an inspirational thought I offered the previous evening. In response to their message, I dropped another quick note before I headed out the door: “You will have a great day! Do what you do best! Control what you can control and don’t worry about the rest.” I left and went out for my ride.

One flat tire, a broken spoke, and a shortened ride later, I came home. I was disappointed that I had to curtail the length of my ride while facing the reality I would have to deal with bike repair issues before the next day’s ride. Though I was a little dispirited about the malfunctions, I was pleased at my ability to get through the ride despite the distractions.

When I returned to my computer to log my ride and check emails, I was greeted with my pre-programmed inspirational thought: “You can only control two things — your attitude and your effort. You alone are responsible for your outcomes and your choices.”

The struggles, challenges, and frustrations of that bike ride could have knocked me off my plan. It is because I focused on the things I can control — attitude and effort — that I stayed the course, despite the distractions.

Serendipity can be an amazing inspirational tool provided we embrace its simplicity and use as a reminder to keep moving. We rarely receive clear answers or messages that tell us what to do, where to go, or confirm our decisions. Sometimes we are fortunate enough to receive little nods of inspiration that encourage us to keep moving. Most of the time, our instincts are all we have and that can be enough provided we are willing to trust the path we are on.

These two experiences were great lessons for me. They encouraged me to stay on the path I am on, even though I have my concerns. I hope that you will find a message for you in the experience, as well. Have an awesome week!

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