These next few posts were all written on the same day, was going through some things and had a lot of things I really just wanted to get out there, so if they sound kinda similar or have similar vibes, that's why. I was also listening to Sam Smith on repeat while writing all of these for some context lol. On another note, I'm super proud that I've been so consistent for the month of January, really wanted to end off the month strong, so here y'all go...
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When I was 11 or 12, I learned how to ride a bike. My neighbours, 2 brothers, had 2 bikes and had offered to teach me how to ride a bike when I told them I didn’t know how. With no training wheels or nothing, I got on the bike, my neighbour was like holding me making sure I didn’t fall and he said to start pedaling to which I did. After a while or practising, he left me on my own while he went off and his brother was biking with me. So as I was riding, I saw his brother biking towards me and I still wasn’t really good at turning and I literally crashed straight into him and we both fell and I scraped my knee. After that I was like nah, riding a bike is too dangerous. I’m gonna stick to my scooter cuz it’s safer and I can hop off at the first sign of danger. My neighbour was like yo, it’s normal to fall when you’re learning how to ride a bike, you can’t let that fear of falling stop you from getting back on the bike and learning how to ride. So I did just that, I got back on the bike, kept practicing and eventually learned how to ride a bike.
With life…man, you’re gonna fall, you’re gonna scrape your knee and you’re gonna get hurt…a lot. But you can’t let or shouldn’t let that fear of falling keep you from getting back on the bike. In life…you’re gonna experience so many setbacks, failures, heartbreaks and everything in between that if you were to let that fear of falling keep you from getting back up, you’d might as well lock yourself in one of those padded rooms so you never get hurt, but you’d also never live and experience the joys and the ups and downs of life. With ups, come downs…and the higher you go, it also means the higher the drop is. I’ve been at my highs and experienced the drops…and it sucks, it makes you think to yourself, well do I really wanna try to get to that high again if it means I might fall and experience all that pain and sadness all over again. That fear of falling, of sadness, of heartbreak, of pain, of failure…it can be hella crippling, it can make you wanna hide in your shell like a turtle and avoid any kind of interaction for fear of getting hurt. But that’s life and that’s the cycle of life….you fall sometimes, but you get back up, you experience highs but you also experience lows. And as with life…it goes on, and with time…everything gets better and starts to feel normal again…and even tho you might fall and scrape your knee…in time, that wound heals and you’ll be ready to get back on the bike again.
I’ve always believed and tried to preach that it’s not about what happens to you, but how you react and respond to it that defines who you are. If I chose to never get back on that bike again, I would have never learned to ride a bike and be riding that stupid scooter till I graduated high school lol. If I decided to not go back to school and just go on with life after I failed those 3 courses in university, I would’ve never completed my undergrad, I would’ve felt like a failure and that I disappointed my parents. If I closed myself off after every time a girl rejected me or things just didn’t work out…I’d probably be living isolated in seclusion right now somewhere in the mountains with a big ol beard and my best friend Spalding (if you know you know). What I’m trying to say is that when life hits you unexpectedly with a down...you can choose linger on that and let it eat at you, or you can choose to take it as it is, say thank you and go on your merry way. I’m definitely a lingerer and I always let things eat at me and I dwell on things…but this is me saying that I’m consciously making that choice…and also with the help and support of some of closest friends…that I’m taking the negatives that life throws at me and learning from it, chalking it up as experience and a lesson learned…another chapter in my story, a detour on my journey, a hurdle in my race of life…yeah yeah you get the rest lol. Setbacks in life are inevitable, but you always get to choose how you want to react and respond to it…and that’s a reminder for myself more than anything.
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