Growing up, one of my life goals (like many kids) was to learn how to ride a bike—on two wheels.
During my 6-year-old Christmas, my opportunity finally came.
Santa brought me a two-wheeled, purple bike with pink streamers and light up wheels, and over the next several weeks, I made it my mission to get up—on my own.
Dad by my side, we’d hit the streets every day when he got home from work to practice.
Clad in my helmet and elbow guards, I made him stand by my side and guide the bike up and down the parking lot, as he coached me on body mechanics: Body upright. Core strong. Balancing. Pedaling.
Man oh man—there are a lot of moving parts to bike riding.
Then the day finally came when he finally let go (without me knowing).
“You’re doing great sweetheart,” he told me by my side.
And , although I thought he was still hanging on to my seat…seconds later, I looked to my left and to my right, and realized…he wasn’t there.
“Whoooooaaa…dad?!”
“You’ve got this Lauryn,” he said.
Away I went…for a good few more seconds wobbling and “whooooaaaaa-ing” before my bike toppled to the side, and I caught myself with my right foot.
“Whoa! Dad! I did it!” I exclaimed.
And by all means I did!
After a solid three weeks of practice, practice, practice, my dad knew I was ready.
(Even though I didn’t think I was).
And with my one trial run of success, I got back up on that bike with both feet and tried again.
Learning to ride a bike takes courage—and lots of courage for a reserved, scaredy cat child like myself.
Not one to like high-dive diving boards, rollercoasters or even waiting in the car for my mom to run quickly into the grocery store for 5 minutes, doing “risky” things has never come natural.
However, if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years of “doing hard (or scary) things” it is: Courage (and confidence) is made when we…do hard things.
Your #thrivelife project today: Do something that scares you.
Gain new courage.
We do a lot of scary things in life.
- Riding a two-wheeled bike—on our own
- Going to college—on our own
- Speaking up
- “Going for it”
- Trying something new
- Putting ourselves “out there”
- Not caring what other people think so much
- Eating food that has some fat in it (oh boy, eating almond butter or avocado at one time was super scary for my eating disorder in recovery)
- Believing we can do something—that we are capabale…
Scary stuff doesn’t come natural.
But when we do it…oh the possibilities.