Riding a motorcycle can have mental benefits that not only lessen the stresses you might have in life but can also improve your overall happiness. The mental benefits are almost instant but also increases over time as you spend more time on your motorcycle.
Overview
In this article, we discuss the mental benefits of riding a motorcycle and how this may affect your life.
We will look at the following benefits of riding a motorcycle:
- Focus
- Suppressing addictions
- Making friends
- Self-confidence
- Values and cause in life
Focus
Riding a motorcycle takes your attention away from everything that is happening in your life whether it’s good or bad. When you are riding, you are basically just living in the moment and that doesn’t allow your mind to wander off to some bad things that life might have brought upon you.
Your focus is on the road and what’s going on around you. It’s as if you forget about the world you live in. Or it’s more like the road is your world and nothing else matters until you stop.
But when you do stop, it’s not like you just start thinking about all the bad stuff again. I would say, that each time you go for a ride, your mind is recalibrating to not think about the bad things. It’s like your mind learns to shift focus onto something else, which is good because everyone needs to free and this includes being free from their own thoughts.
Suppressing addictions
I’ll admit that I am addicted to smoking. And since I started riding motorcycles I would smoke a lot less, although I haven’t gotten myself to stop completely. I think that’s because of my new career and my uncertainty that it will be a success.
But not all addictions are physical cravings. It might be a habit that you developed in order to cope with certain things that happen in your life. These habits could be something like an eating disorder or buying stuff that you don’t need. Riding your motorcycle can definitely help you overcome these types of things.
Making friends
Generally speaking, many people find it difficult to make new friends, especially when you don’t really have anything in common or something to talk about. This is where the world’s motorcycling community often looks more diverse than even a pack of M&M’s.
All kinds of people ride motorcycles. And when you do meet new people, it is as if you have an instant connection. Well, you don’t instantly make friends every time. But the chances are 100x better you will make friends with other motorcyclists.
Self-confidence
I think having a helmet over your head has something to do with how you perceive yourself. It might be like a magic hat that helps you get out of your comfort zone and do things you normally wouldn’t. Usually, those are the kind of things you would remember after ten or twenty years and make you laugh.
But I don’t think it stops as soon as you take the helmet off. After a while, you get used to this kind of behaviour and you start doing it in normal situations nowhere near a bike. I think people become much more self-confident after riding motorcycles for some time.
Values and cause in life
There is really no point in going through each day without a cause. It’s just a waste of life. I know that for a fact. And what I’ve learned is that doing something for someone to make their life better gives you a reason to live, even if they don’t know about it.
I see a lot of people trying to be this “lone biker” lifestyle but they’re missing so much. It’s great going to a charity event to help out with stuff. I’m not just talking about a “ride for cancer” thing (not that it’s bad or anything) where you collect money but especially the type of events where you have direct contact with the people you are helping.
If you don’t like these kinds of events, you don’t need to do it. But if you want to have a purpose in life, it’s a good place to start looking. As soon as you find a purpose your values start to change to fit with your purpose. When your purpose is just living for yourself, your values are pointing in that same direction. They start pointing in other directions when you don’t only live for yourself.
Final words
These are the things that I have experienced or observed as a motorcyclist and I think many people ask us what the benefits are but never really seem to find an answer. I hope this helps.
Featured image by blackhawkchannel on Instagram
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