I don’t like admitting I’m an addict – but the truth will out.
It’s Sunday morning, 4 AM, and I am staggering up in order to leave the house at 5 AM. We are scheduled to drive from Bournemouth to Newham Sports Centre – in North East London.
My wife has made this trip before and advised: don’t take the short route via the counter-clockwise M25 Dartford Tunnel. It’s murder, she says. Then again, trying to navigate across London in a ‘direct’ line is also fruitless and frustrating. So, go the best route: clockwise around the M25, circling the circumference of London. Come off at Junction 27, and then the Sports Centre is only a dozen or so miles away. This actually adds an extra 50 miles each way – but, I am sure you can imagine what you may miss by way of consequence.
Why am I doing this? Do my readers see me as someone on an intense fitness programme that requires work-outs in London? No, my son Joe is competing in the Under 20 BFA Foil competition and it’s pretty important to him that he achieves some result. Fencing (Foil) is like tennis in terms of ranking – you turn up, get points, these are added up, and over time you – hopefully – go up the rankings. Naturally, motivation is a core component of competitive sport.
But as I was saying, I am addict. You see, we left at 5 AM, having had a good breakfast, including a solitary cup of tea. I felt fine, but by the time I hit Southampton I was yawning. By the time I hit Heathrow I was positively drooping. I pinched myself, I drank water, and I attempted a mild form of acupressure with my right hand – my left hand firmly on the wheel. Nothing seemed to work – and then there was the South Mimms Service Station ahead.
I knew what I needed – the fix. One hot cup of Americano later and I felt alive and awake again; and partially ashamed! Yes, I have read “Caffeine Blues” – http://www.amazon.co.uk/Caffeine-Blues-Hidden-Dangers-Americas/dp/0446673919 – a searing indictment of the effects of coffee. But, I was in the now – and needed it now! The rest of the trip seemed a dream.
There is a theory I am developing here: every one of us has one ‘fix’ we cannot do without. Or what might be termed, my Sunday Motivation.
James Sale
The Mapping Motivation Series 