It’s Just Like Riding a Bike…

Life is like a bicycle, to keep your balance you must keep moving

What a wonderful phrase for reminding us to not get stuck in any one emotional loop, for fear of becoming unbalanced by doing so. Another one would be, “It’s just like riding a bike…” a cute lil’ phrase meant to encourage us; to let us know it’s easier than we think it will be. Whatever the “it” happens to be.

It has been my experience that life, and the journey to self love, is exactly like learning to ride, and actually riding, a bike.

Remember how excited you were as a kid to finally learn to ride a bike? All that excitement and anticipation, mingled with a hint of fear. The promise of freedom once you mastered it. A true rite of passage in most people’s childhood.

The journey to self love can be very much the same. It seems so thrilling, at first. The excitement of enacting true and lasting change. The anticipation of becoming the person you feel you are destined to be. The promise of emotional freedom once you master the art of loving yourself. And the fear. Oh, the fear. The fear of unfamiliar, emotional territory. The fear that even though we aren’t happy, that change could be worse. The pressure to maintain the change (pace), once we start moving forward. That unsteady wobbling in our minds that tells us we are going to crash and hurt ourselves; that it’s better to play it safe and stay firmly planted where we are, with both feet on the ground.

Learning to ride a bike, and learning to love yourself fully, are very much alike

Life transformation, just like riding a bike, is fraught with hidden emotional dangers and the potential for getting hurt. When you are learning to ride a bike, no one warns you about the pain you may experience. They make you wear a helmet, put knee & elbow pads on you, and hope for the best. They don’t tell you that you can break bones, get hit by a car, or permanently disfigure yourself. Why? Because they don’t want to scare you. They want you to fully enjoy the experience, all the while issuing vague warnings of “Be Careful!” at perfectly timed intervals.

Unfortunately, many self-help books do exactly the same thing

We, along with most self-help books, focus on how great it is going to be. “Everything is Awesome!” is the battle cry of every new rider on the path of self discovery, as they start peddling the rusty, rickety jalopy they have chosen to propel them forward…filled with adrenaline and blissfully unaware of the bumpy road that lies ahead. Most of us aren’t really warned that the journey through life, and the path to inner happiness, will skin our knees, leave bruises on us, break us on occasion, and catapult us forward at breakneck speeds that leave us crumpled up in a ditch, crying, and wondering why we ever thought this was fun.

Ah yes, learning to ride a bike and learning to love yourself and your life, are indeed very much the same

The interesting thing about it is, that no matter how much we fall down, we get right back up and continue on the path. No matter how much potential there is for pain, we fix our gaze on the horizon and keep moving forward. The unknown rewards we imagine outweigh our fears. That sweet promise of freedom makes us realize that no matter what happens, it will all be worth it.

After all, what price can you put on freedom?

#priceless

So, let me say to you, that if you are embarking on your journey to self love, discovery, and transformation…it’s going to be like riding a bike. You are going to get frustrated. You are going to fall down sometimes. You are going to get bruised, and potently get scarred. You may even get t-boned, out of the blue, by old agreements and transgressions that you thought no longer triggered you. Sometimes you will be riding solo, up what seems like an impossible hill. Other times you will be coasting down the back side of that hill, with your hands up, screaming your victory. And just when you need it most, you will encounter others on your path who ride beside you, keeping you company along particular stretches of the journey.

Your journey will be just like riding a bike. No matter how many times you fall, you will get back up…just like when you were a kid

#keepgoing #youvegotthis