I went mountain biking earlier this month.
I was in an area I haven't ridden since last year.
In Santa Rosa, Annadel State Park.
I've ridden there dozens of times.
It's a great trail. Technical climbing, long scenic rocky descents surrounded by massive trees, a peaceful lake to stop at... this trail has it all.
On my first ride this year, earlier this month, allergies came upon me.
I sneezed dozens of times, had to blow my nose, had a small sore throat... I was miserable.
I ended up turning back around and cutting the ride short.
It simply wasn't enjoyable.
I found myself riding back to the car, back down the technical climb that I had just gone up.
I was sneezing and riding and sneezing and riding... I wanted to be back in the car.
Suddenly, I took a fall on one of the massive rocky sections.
And I found myself doing what is known in mountain biking as over-the-handlebars (OTH).
Meaning, the bike flipped, and I went over the handlebars.
I didn't land on the trail in front of me. I went off the side of the trail and tumbled.
After I did a bike and body check and concluded nothing needed medical attention, I crawled up the hill with my bike and continued to ride back to the car.
Allergies.
Allergies took me away from riding at my best.
Allergies caused me to take a fall and scrape up my arm and have random bruises around my upper body.
Allergies did this! (I tell myself)
I've had them before, many many years ago, I know them well.
A strong gluten allergy in 2012 caused me to change my diet for months. Gluten caused bloating, headaches, and my eyes would immediately burn and water up. I remember once I suddenly had a headache a foot away from the bread aisle at the market.
As a kid, when I rolled in grass, I broke out in hives.
Allergies, as defined by Wikipedia, are a "number of conditions caused by hypersensitivity of the immune system to something in the environment."
If you've ever had allergies, no doubt, you understand their annoyances.
There are different ways to respond to allergies.
There was a time I tolerated them. I accepted them and lived with the constant nose blowing and symptoms.
There was a time I tried to reduce their effects. I took the common allergy medicine found at the local market.
And then there was the time I cleared myself of the allergies.
Yes, cleared them – as in, they're completely gone.
I cleared my airborne allergies pre-2010 in Southern California.
I cleared my gluten allergy in Nashville, TN, in 2012. All of the side effects went away.
And right now, I found the root of what is causing these seasonal allergies and expect them to be gone soon.
I've done a majority of my allergy clearings through a technique called NAET – a technique that retrains the body to not be stressed out by an allergen.
How does this relate to perspectives?
Perspectives do something for us.
The way that we see our world creates our world.
Confidence, or lack thereof, can be due to a combination of perspectives.
High self-esteem, or lack thereof, can be due to a combination of perspectives.
Happiness, or lack thereof, can be due to a combination of perspectives.
Success, or lack thereof, can be due to a combination of perspectives.
Peace, or lack thereof, can be due to a combination of perspectives.
The list goes on.
Mental allergies are our perspectives that stress our body.
Self-awareness is what allows us to see our mental allergies, both the mental allergies themselves, and the possibility of changing them.
When we have the self-awareness to know what our perspectives do for us, we can see how we create our version of reality, and we can change it to serve us better.
Or sometimes we don't, and we live with these mental allergies our whole lives.
And that's ok, too.
