I'm a slow learner so I apologize for this late(er on in life) epiphany, but here it goes. The treasures of life are masked and hidden under our fears, you know, the goblins of life.
I was terrified to walk away from an incredible job stacked with awesome benefits and even better people to go back on the road. I thought what are people going to think about my risk; I thought am I going to be happy with my decision. I thought very early on in the beginning, what the hell am I doing? I thought what am I going to do after this tour? But open roads (8,418 miles to be almost exact), random people, gorgeous sunrises, diverse terrain, overplayed playlists and random adventures I found peace, I made memories and I gained a new purpose.
Back to the goblins, besides the tour itself I faced two scary things:
1. Bikram Yoga
2. Tandem Bike Riding
Prior to the tour, my goal was to do yoga in every college town. While I fell short on that goal, I did experience Bikram yoga, you know hot yoga. My ass thought it would be a fantastic idea to rise up at 5:00am and PAY to be in a room with 15 other nut cases adorned in lycra to do almost impossible poses in a 107 degree room. Was it challenging? Pfffffttt! Did I sweat my ass off? (Eyes rolling) Did I feel a sense of epic accomplishment? Sure did. Did my body feel amazing? For days it did.
Tandem bike riding. Riding a bike sounds easy enough, right? I forgot to mention that I'm terrified of riding bikes. While training for a triathlon, I flipped off a road bike and fell down a gravel hill. The fall was so severe that it ripped my shirt in half, got gravel in my skin, and I still have scars on my legs, stomach and arms from the accident. So when Linnea had the bright idea to tandem bike ride across the Golden Gate Bridge I was speechless. In her defense, she had no clue of my prior accident AND she was just trying to maximize my San Fran experience. After a really rough start, the kind of start where the bike shop guy says "Are you sure you guys want to do this?" we made our 5 mile hilly way to the Golden Gate Bridge. There's a lot of details I'm skipping, but just know this, that bike ride was the highlight of my ENTIRE tour. I haven't laughed so hard, had others laugh at us so hard, felt adventurous, felt nervous and felt so good all in one.
All in all, my point is that taking a risk and doing something that scares you is probably the thing that will make you feel most alive, most accomplished and most driven. Don't concentrate on what could go wrong, focus on the reward of things going right.
Daily Challenge:
There's something that terrifies you...that's exactly what you need to seek after. Is it going back to school? Applying for a new job? Asking for a raise? Starting your own business? Telling someone your new idea? Joining a group? Planning an event? Writing a book? Telling someone how they made you feel? Do that thing.
Song of the Day:
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