Dear Human 💕,

You made it! You reached your goal for your September cycling fundraiser! 250 miles!

You celebrated for a minute and then your inner critic started hissing at you.

Let’s hiss back!

I didn’t finish in September.

The nor’easter brought constant rain and wind gusts up to 45 mph and left the trails covered in wet, slippery leaves. That’s no weather to cycle in! I certainly would not have put a paw outside. You didn’t even open the window for me. Not a single bird showed up. That nor’easter kept you off the bike for 6 days and you finished one day late. One day. With 9 extra miles.

It was only 250 miles. I did 1,000 in 2020.

You’re comparing this year to your by far biggest year ever. 1,000 miles took about 3 hours every day. You weren’t my human yet, so I have no idea how you found the time. It’s impressive, but seriously, what human has that kind of time? Meow! You cycled the distance to the International Space Station. No need to launch yourself into deep space.

Compare it to last year instead. All you could do was 100 miles, and all things considered, 100 miles was great for that year. This year you did 2.5 times as much!

I didn’t reach my fundraising goal.

You aimed high. And out of 8 years, this is in the top half. In the whole state, you’re in the top 20% of fundraisers!

And while we’re at it: 8 years! Give yourself some credit for that. You showed up. Eight years in a row. Even in the rough years. You might not have cycled all year, but you always hit the road for the fundraiser.

When the critic starts hissing at you, ask yourself what I would say. Ask yourself what you would say to someone you love.

You did it! Despite a rare September nor’easter. Your only training was seven days of scrambling up mountains on foot. You added another year to your streak. You raised money to fight cancer. You’re making a difference. I’m proud of you.

Don’t let your inner critic ruin your win. Allow yourself to celebrate!

Yours,
Cat 🐾

P.S. Remember, human brains are like VELCRO® for bad things and like Teflon™ for good things. Scientists call this Negativity Bias.

P.P.S. I inspected your bike. No warp drive. Not even an impulse drive. Looks like it runs on just one human power. The engine has earned a treat. So has the inspector.