If you have ever been to or through Sturgis during the Harley Davidson rally week, you have witnessed true obsession. Loud obsession. Big, gaudy and well, highly creative metal, chrome, paint and leather obsession.
What do you do with an unknown obsession and its related species? You could compare and contrast with what you already know. But to what end? That kind of ridiculousness won’t help you gain understanding. What’s the best way to expand your awareness? Get into it and pretend it’s your obsession.
Dress up in Harley gear – leather and do-rags and boots and ripped jeans.
Eat weird food – for at least a meal or two. Observe strange behavior – full body paint or barely clad car washers. My sister in law even bought me some lime green tassels that lit up. Oooh cool. I didn’t wear them but I like them ;-) You can sit on any corner and watch pelaton after pelaton of Harleys in all shapes, sizes, colors, and decibel levels go by.
All the while I kept reminding myself how obsessive I was with things that I’m sure seem quite foreign to many people. Like wearing tight spandex and then racing my bike in circles or putting butter in my coffee or dyeing my hair blue.
After about 3 days of my adventure, I had spoken to dozens of new people, seen thousands of Harleys, hung on for dear life over numerous mountain passes AND I did feel expanded. (And not just by a few pounds ;-)
I was more open, more tolerant, and more interested in the lives of those around me. How they got into Harley’s and what, for them, was their passion about?
Then, in celebration, I jumped on my bicycle, hopped on the Mickelson Trail and rode myself back into my own, newly leathered from sun and wind, skin. It felt delicious.
Go out and try on someone else’s obsession this week. Stretch into someone else’s skin and see what you find out. It’s a big world and there are so many, many different and unique people in it. Go meet them and surprise yourself!
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