Crying profusely.
“Dad, don’t make me do it.”
Our 5-year old had promised to try riding her bike, and I
was trying to stand strong. But her tearful protest was making it hard not to
back down. For a few months we had failed at getting her to be able to ride a
bike without training wheels. “Why force her toward another failed attempt?” I
asked myself.
After a few minutes of emotional tug-of-war, we got little
Sihasin onto the bike.
She settled onto the bike seat.
Struggled to push off, but finally did.
Bike wobbled.
Wobbled some more.
She reacted and steadied herself.
Wobbling continued.
She again reacted and kept the bike from falling to the
side.
She had figured it all out! She was riding a bike.
Tears of “don’t make me do this” replaced with “wow, I can
do this!”
Daddy no longer feeling guilty, but now feeling a proud papa
elation.
This week, we may feel like Sihasin when faced with a
daunting challenge. We may not cry in protest, but we may wish we could.
Maybe that is the exact moment where we are going to have
the breakthrough, if we just push through the fear of failure. In fact, it
might be helpful to stop and name what we are afraid of as a way of getting
ourselves onto the bike to at least make an attempt.
And when the bike inevitably wobbles, trust that you can figure out how to react.
Just like Sihasin.
In fact, our failures have taught
us how to be successful, even if we cannot quite see it yet in that moment.
Embrace the wobble.
Embrace the “don’t make me do this” voice in your head.
But similarly, embrace the voice telling you “I can do this.”
