The Rope Bridge + Free Lettering Activity
The rope bridge is an analogy I use to remind myself of how important it is to live a multi-faceted life rich in the motives & drives that are authentic to you.
To build a bridge from scratch you need to spin your rope. You use a variety of materials or maybe just the one, but all have to be quality & blended to be strong to hold under pressure. The finished rope is then weaved to build a bridge to carry you from one spot to another.
The materials you use to spin the rope are the elements & things you value & don't value yet still contribute to your life. This is your career, side hustle, education, relationships, friendships, hobbies, values, goals, mental health, physical health & anything else you hold dear & live for. Having plenty of strong materials, means that when one or more of these areas cracks under pressure, you still have areas of your life to draw strength from & hold yourself together.
Bridges keep us safe from danger lizards in horrific remakes of classic movies
In practice, if you choose to go all in on your career, your career 'fibers' strengthen with you but threaten your other materials to be sacrificed, weakened or lost. So if your career then suffers for whatever reason, your career fibers frays & tears and your bridge’s now principle material, career, is lost!
Your bridge is tested as it bows that you'll either have to mend or rebuild if it comes crashing down.
Don’t be this bridge, this is a bad bridge.
Naturally life is dynamic & the materials can change at their own will. But I love to use the rope to remind me that building my life strengthens my the fibers in my bridge. If your values & drives are truly aligned with you, your life & fibers will enrich and strengthen each other so I can be ready for myself and others.
TL; DR having more in your life so you're not solely dependant on that one thing keeps you strong when life inevitably cracks or comes crashing down .
Activity
So to tie this in with lettering, at the bottom of the page is a printable activity:
Think through whatever values, goals, lifestyle routines you have. To get you started I’ve included some in the activity & mine below.
I’ve drawn the outline of a climbing knot, you just need to trace over the top with another piece of paper and letter your values, goals, lifestyle or anything else that comes to mind.
While I was making mine, I noticed that the balancing act of lettering & thinking introspectively allowed me to go off script to add all sort of things I wasn’t expecting.
Here’re mine:
My Core Values - Openness, Honesty, Movement, Time, People, Health, & Conflict
My social circles - Friends, Family, Wotso,
Movement & Hobbies - Climbing, running, my Instax camera, outdoors, music, & overusing the ampersand (this thing >&<).
Health - whole food plant based sprinkled with a good late night kebab or burrito, journalling, lettering, touching base with my psychologist.
Lifestyle, habits & routine - early morning runs and fitness, working on my business, my psychology studies, chilling with friends & family.
Gin induced dancing & the complete nonsense that makes life worth living.
Voila! A double loop figure 8 knot, or spaghetti
What did you think?
Drop your questions or thoughts in the comments below!
To the most iconic bridge ever, Bridget Jones - Cheers Bridge!
