Rewards of getting uncomfortable

Had a very Sweet Charity weekend. Let myself get into uncomfortable situations and made it out the other end the better for it.

Finally got around to taking our motorcycle rider class. Yeah. The voice in the back of my head was a bit terrified. Closest I’ve ever come to driving a motorcycle was an ATV in Mexico. Not quite the same thing. And this isn’t the same thing as Seth asking us to believe the canoe won’t tip over if we tip it almost all the way over. After all, my only risk then was getting wet, not dying. (Well, OK, it would have been getting wet in the Hudson, so dying might have been a long-term option.) Nope, motorcycles are big, powerful and really, really heavy. And you have to do about 14,238 things at the same time to control them. (I counted.) And control is important for me. Which is why I don’t ski. Can’t seem to control things.

And I didn’t always control my bike. I fell off once. I dropped it another time. I caught my pants leg on the foot peg a few times. I revved the throttle every time I pushed to turn right. I forgot which side the brake was on once. Control – not 100%. (You’re all just so excited now that I got my license, huh?) But, I stuck with it. I got better. A lot better. I never could do the figure eight in the box, but I eventually was able to do a figure eight. I started to get the knack of weaving. And braking. And turning.

None of which would have happened if I was willing to let the fear, the uncomfortable, the risky control my choices. They’re always a factor in making a choice. But to let them have unreasonable control means missing out on really cool stuff. I let it have too much control when I was younger and refuse to let it cause me undue regret these days.

Got a fear keeping you from a great reward?

Tags: fearmotorcycleplaying it safe