It is a crisp, sunny Saturday in Detroit. It’s also 9AM on January 31^st, which doesn’t mean much, except that my blog is due by midnight tonight, and so I cannot put off writing it any longer. After a week of thinking about what I’m going to write, I sat down with the intention of pumping out a blog by the end of the morning. Instead, I found that I was stuck; I had nothing to say.

That’s a lie. I had a lot to say, but nothing that I wanted to say. I have come to love these monthly blogs, as they serve as a time when I can reflect on and synthesize the often random and extremely varied thoughts and experiences I’ve had over the previous 30 days. For some reason though, this month was different.

I spent the month of January exhausted. For the past few weeks, my mind has been as cloudy as the gray sky I woke up to many times since returning from the New Year’s break.

At 10 AM I was still staring at a blank word document. I knew I could write about a hundred different issues and conversations I had had recently about how unfair the world is, how much the education system needs to change, how Detroit’s landscape is changing before my eyes, but the words were not flowing. I got up and got ready to go to the beautiful downtown Detroit YMCA to exercise, trusting that the words and topic for my blog would come when they needed to. Come they did.

It was a nice 25 degrees outside and so I decided to hop on my bike after a 2 month hiatus.  It felt incredible. The sun was shining and I felt a sense of freedom in once again having the ability to get to where I need to go without my car. The spinning class I joined was full, but I was in the zone and hardly noticed anyone or anything around me. All I could hear was the voice of the instructor ringing in my ears as I interpreted his words as if he were my life coach, rather than an exercise guru standing in the front of the room, trying to motivate a bunch of Detroiters on stationary bikes. “60 seconds until you’re at the top of the hill…if your legs feel heavy, it’s a reminder that you’re holding your own weight…everything you need is right here,” I heard him say. Clearly, my mind was still focused on finding a topic for my blog. Ideas were racing through my head as quickly as my legs were spinning the pedals. I repeated the instructor’s words again and again until the class ended. Then, I quickly ran to my phone to document my thoughts and his sayings.

These mere sayings, meant to motivate us to bike faster in order to burn off the inevitable food we would eat Super Bowl celebrations, instead brought to mind the students my Challenge Detroit group is currently working with after school at Detroit Food Academy and my little sister in the Big Brother Big Sister Lunch Buddies Program. Some of these incredible kids could surely use someone whispering in their ear, telling them they’re getting closer to the top of the hill, that they’ll make it there. I thought about friends who are going through tough times, whose legs are buckling under pressure, and who surely feel the weight of their emotions. Finally, I thought about myself aching to get out of the city and back into nature, where I feel most relaxed and at home.

The real inspiration for this blog though, came once I left the YMCA. I arrived at Eastern Market around 12:30 PM and instantly noticed the bustling sheds. I was shocked not only at the number of visitors, but also at the variety of vendors that stuck out the cold to come and sell fresh, healthy food to the citizens of Detroit.

The red, green and yellow peppers were as brightly colored as ever. There were big bags of carrots and sweet potatoes, every variety of onion, apples and brussel sprouts. There were food trucks and stands with artists’ work and small business’ goods spread throughout the sheds. Everyone seemed to be taking advantage of this incredible Market, which just so happens to be right down the street from my house. As I looked up at the clear sky above, to the shining sun and finally the people around me, I forgot about the cloudiness I have felt for the past month. I stopped trying to escape my thoughts and find a place to retreat to. My whole body felt relaxed and my mind was at ease. Honestly, I couldn’t help but think about the words the spinning instructor had said just a few hours before: “everything you need is right here.”