Hey everyone,
Sometimes it's challenging to see the light at the end of the tunnel and often when your down its hard to know how or even when you might get up again.
Confidence is all about getting back up again, about stepping into unfamiliar territory where perhaps you aren't so confident and building it up. Getting competent in confidence. It takes time and getting knocked down can really hurt. Confidence isn't something that comes in the mail or something that shows up out of the blue, it's something that takes effort and development and it takes doing something that you aren't so confident in and working at it until you get earn the confidence.
This never rung more true to me than last week. On Friday I went roller skating. Yep you read right, Roller Skating. I haven't ever been roller skating, I went ice skating a few times years ago and failed miserably. Back then I used to think that if I wasn't good at something right away then there was no point continuing.I believed that I should just stick to what I knew and that way there was no chance of getting hurt. Crazy right?
Well maybe not so crazy, so many people wont try something new because they think they'll be no good at it. They stop trying new things in the fear of falling. Of course they won't be any good at it, how can they be? If you have never done something before how on earth can you be good at it. After how many times would you tell a child to just give up trying to walk? Is there a limit to how many times they can fall over before they should give up?
This doesn't seem to enter people's minds though, all that consumes people is the thought of stuffing up, of failing and making a fool of themselves. This keeps people so afraid, it keeps them from getting confident at anything.
When i first put on my four wheeled shoes I admit, I was scared. How on earth can I stand, let alone move when I'm on wheels. This can't be natural I said to myself. I really wanted to do it though, I have watched those graceful skaters and seen how much fun they seem to have and I wanted to be part of it.
I stood up tentatively with my awesome partner standing by me and holding my hand. I very awkwardly skated to the rink and stuck to the wall as I entered the rink. I knew that in order for me to get confident I had to let go, I had to give it my all and embrace the fear of falling over, no matter how much it might hurt.
For the first few minutes Iwent slow, making sure to hold my partners hand. As I kept going I let go of his hand and started off on my own. Sure I was scared, but soon enough I was flying, getting more and more speed and feeling more confident in every stride.
After an hour of beautiful skating I took a break, feeling great and on top of the world, I wanted more, I wanted the rush and went back on the rink for some more skating.
A few laps around tragedy struck, another skater came into the rink without looking and BAM! down I went. Ouch! It hurt and it hurt bad. I got back up knowing that if I didn't get up now, I probably never would, but I had lost my confidence. I was scared again and now more than ever, I had felt the pain of falling and didn't want to go there again. Within moments I fell again. This time I had to sit down, I had been hit and I was hurting, my pride as much as my knee.
I was tired, I was hurting, I had fallen down and I really didn't want to get back up again. I had to make a decision, I had to decide weather I was going to give up and never get that feeling of flying again or I could decide to settle into the fear and say no to myself for good.
I knew that if I didn't give it another go then I wouldn't ever and that would mean giving up on myself. I got up and went out there and gave it my all. I embraced the fear and accepted that I might fall and that's OK, because if I didn't fall, I wasn't trying hard enough. I skated better than ever, I got out there and skated faster than ever and this time I didn't fall, not once.
Tonight, I go back out there and do it all again because building confidence is about getting back up, trying again and never giving up.
Keep going everyone, keep getting scared and pushing through it, that's where life begins, at the edge of your comfort zone.
Try something new this weekend and fall over!
K
No comments:
Post a Comment