My first college experience actually occurred before classes started. I was in the marching band and we began our rehearsals in August before the start of the semester. It was hot, demanding, difficult, and I loved it. The band director at the time was named Tom Bennett and he taught me one of the most valuable concepts I ever learned- the concept of the Absurdity Level.
It goes like this. There are points in the life of any learner, regardless of what he's learning where what seemed like a pinnacle at the time becomes absurd. For a ten-year-old learning to play the flute, getting through a one-minute solo with only a handful of mistakes is a major milestone. For a professional studio musician, missing a single note in the course of an entire session seems absurd. As your skill and experience level goes up, so does the level of what you consider absurd.
Over the years I've heard Mr. Bennett's words in my mind many times.
I learned to play the bass guitar and watched my absurdity level rise.
I learned administer a network of Linux servers and watched my absurdity level rise.
I watched my daughter learn to read and smiled as her absurdity level rose.
Tonight I rode my bike 0.1 miles and felt like my heart was going to burst out of my chest while my lungs screamed to take in more air as quickly as possible. Yet, that's more than twice as far as I was able to ride yesterday.
In a month I'll read this blog and consider myself absurd for being happy about my 0.1 mile ride, and that's a good thing.
Mark – welcome to my life. Glad we're taking this journey together.
Been meaning to ask on Twitter if you got the bike yet but saw the link to this blog and suspected what it was about. Keep us updated on your progress. Be careful starting out this HOT time of year but keep it up anyway, even if it seems the absurdity level is low. Every tiny increment of progress is better than static-quo – actually, I don't believe there's such a thing, 'cause you're either moving forward or sliding back.