Spiral Staircases

I don't know why, but it feels like this year has gone by really quickly-- it seems like I was just in fall-- enjoying the leaves and dreading the approaching winter. And suddenly, I find myself here again.

I think that it has to do with my blog.

When you document so many of the events and thoughts of your life, they become more a part of you than just fleeting moments. The act of recording them in a way that you want others to read about them makes them even more real somehow.

Take for instance my bike ride yesterday afternoon. I knew that I should be doing other things, but I couldn't resist the beautiful fall weather, so I ditched my life and rode hard. As I was riding, I was mentally composing my blog, when I realized that I'd said this all before.

That lead me to wonder why I haven't been blogging much lately-- and, in spite of my excuse of being too busy, it really comes down to the fact that I just don't have anything new to say.

I sat down and reviewed through my blog posts over the last year, and my impression is that I feel like I've lived the same year twice.

I guess that in naming my blog "Life Cycles", I was unwittingly defining the tendency of life to go round and round. (I actually chose the name just to show that I would like to spend more of my life riding my bike!)

There is something discouraging about the idea of living in "Groundhog Day". (Everyone remember that movie?) However, without getting too deep (it's only Tuesday, for Pete's Sake!) I have to hope that instead of my life being like a bicycle crank-- continuously circling around the same point, that it is more three dimensional than that. Maybe it's more like a spiral staircase, where even though I am still going around in circles, I am getting higher with each revolution.

Granted, some years show more upward progress than others, but even a little bit of up is better than nothing, right?