The Fear of Falling

In life everyone is faced with their own demons. The things that hold them back in, frozen to move forward.

Tonight, on a whim I decided to go ice skating. I hate conventional workouts, go to the gym, run, walk, hit the weights, etc. After a week of working and sitting at the computer I decided it is time for me to get out of the house and get some exercise. With every long sleeve shirt I own, a heavy coat and ipod in hand I headed to the ice rink for a little fun. Upon lacing up and tuning in some Mary J Blige I stepped onto the ice.

It has been an entire year since I stepped foot on the ice and even then I only went a couple times last year. About 15 minutes into skating poorly in a huge circle I couldn't figure out why I was having such a hard time skating. Don't get me wrong, I'm no Kristina Yamagucci, and a triple lutz is never going to happen but I can hold my own on the ice. Here I was bored and struggling, then it hit me. I was playing it safe.

I have always been one to take risks and let it all hang out just to feel the reward of accomplishing something new and I was being a putz. It was at this very moment I decided playing it safe was boring. The last hour of my skating experience was fun, refreshing and rewarding as I found my rhythm on the ice once again. Before I knew it I was skating forward, backwards, turns, etc.

The funny thing about this experience is, I gave up my fear of falling but didn't even realize what was holding me back until I was stepping off the ice for a moment. As I came to the side there was a family, mother, father and child near the rink entrance. The mother made the comment "She's better than us at this" and before I even thought the words fell out of my mouth, Of course, she's not afraid to fall. Aha!

This experience wasn't about the skating it was acknowledging my fear and doing it anyways. I always have high expectations for myself and more times than I'd like to admit don't pursue what I really want because I am afraid I will fall short of my expectations.

So, don't let fear of falling or falling short stop you from trying. "I would rather attempt and fail than to never try at all."