K-57

Quote of the day: Face the things you do not want to face

"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the thing you think you cannot do." -- Eleanor Roosevelt (1884 - 1962)

Always a learning process, always a changing environment, always what we least expect. We get through each day on the strength we take with us from the days behind us. Each days' step forward is another chance to gain strength. From facing fears or from making it through another wonderful day.

I try to apply thoughts like these to every day. Big "stuff" right on down to the little stuff. Last night I faced several fears (unintentionally) and took them on directly......sideways

Mountain biking. At night. Being LEAD on a quaint and twisty section of trail all covered with pine needles. TOO fast. Mentally distracted.

OK, in English. I fell sideways as my bike slide out from under me on a tight left turn between three medium sized pine trees. I landed on my left hip and left forearm, displaced from my bike. I stopped moving for what felt like minutes (taking body inventory) and turned around to face the other riders quickly approaching from behind, in the darkness. I was laying in the middle of the trail and we had been going FAST. (10 miles an hour is fast in a dark, twisty section like this with trees and pine needles). Fortunately, I had been far enough in front of the second rider that he had a chance to stop before he ran me over. (his front tire stopping inches from my legs.) My first words were "I'm OK! but I think my battery came out. Can you put my [light] battery back in my backpack?". "Sure" was the reply.

I enjoy mountain biking and want to be faster, but that now means going faster on turns. Some people still leave me behind in the twisty sections even though I catch up on the straights. I've Been afraid to fall on turns. I am not afraid to night ride, I love it. I conquered that fear on hallowe'en night (October 31) in 2003. Being lead is another fear: I don't want to slow those behind me in turns. The final fear of being distracted while riding is something I deal with on every ride. When I ride fast there is NO time to think. Leave all your non-bike thoughts at the parking lot when you want to ride too fast!

The Tie-in. I was afraid to lead in a twisty section and afraid to fall on a tight turn. Afraid to slow those behind me and afraid to ride distracted. Forced to face all that in a single moment, I fell and came through almost fine! (sore hip and road rash on my left hip and forearm are the only visable results) I avoided being run over and I was able to keep riding.

How will I apply what I learned to that next turn, corner or major event in my life?

Do we live daily in the face of our fears? Do we live TO face our fears?

Actually, I think our fears just appear unexpectedly and susprise us. Then we try to to deal with it in our own way.

posted by Kev @ 3/30/2005 01:31:00 PM