Yesterday, my dear friend Adam Kinnischtzke invited me out to a nearby park to Sabbath with him. Adam and I arrive at the parking lot, when suddenly he smirks and to my surprise, pulls out a longboard - a forbidden object that I've never tested myself to ride before. After a brief moment of nervous laughter, the first immediate thought of 'no way' has passed over my head and I decided to give it a try.
At first, I struggle to stay on top of the longboard for a while. My two aloof feet are awkwardly placed and I barely miss my balance, almost resulting in a trip. Luckily Adam's on my side and he patiently helps me maintain my balance for a few minutes. Little by little, I start getting further and further without losing my balance until finally, I'm able to let go of Adam's shoulder and even start making longer strides on my own.
A true test of balance came at this giant hill (not really). Adam said,"Here, you're going to go all the way down without stopping." It's a curvy hill, and I needed to constantly make a turn without leaning too forward, otherwise, I might fall. I start making my way down, and my longboard gains more and more speed over time. Time starts to feel slower and a thousand fearful thoughts start to creep into my head and I imagine what it would be like to fall flat on my face or scrape my knees on a peaceful Sunday afternoon- But I put aside those thoughts and focus on maintaining my balance on the board. Finally, I make it to the end of the hill, and the board starts to slow down. The rush of exhilarating joy and self-confidence flourishes inside of me. I have challenged myself and overcome a small but substantial fear! Now I can truly call myself a longboarder. :)
When overcoming our fears, we grow as a person and are able to connect certain lessons that we've learned from to another valuable aspect of life. I can relate this small victory to other instances in my life where I've completely trusted in myself to go for it and didn't give up halfway. It results in a very important growth in self-confidence and the ability to want to challenge ourselves at other things in life. Every Sunday, I commit to going out to the park with Adam and enjoying the fresh breeze brushing against my face as I ride the longboard. Maybe I'll fall one day. But I'll get up again.