Fear - What is it Keeping You From?

Fear is not easy to overcome, but when we do we get to experience life at its fullest.

Fear kept me from building friendships and opening up for the longest time to more than just a select few. Believe it or not it also kept me from riding my bike.

I like people; I love people, but showing that can be difficult. For many years I kept myself at a protective distance not letting others in, typically only opening up when prompted, or after trust had been established. This year I made an effort to become more open allowing others into my life. It is still a work in progress, and recently because I was afraid, I missed letting someone know what a great best friend that person was to me. I regret not saying anything. Sometimes fear creates missed opportunities and growth.

A few weeks ago, while in Utah, I rode my bike up to Squaw Peak. It is a 4 mile climb, with a 2, 023 elevation gain, and a killer grade the last 1/2 mile--I think it is a 13% grade.

The last time I did this ride was 2013. For six years I have been too afraid to attempt this ride! There were many reasons why, but fear of not getting to the top is essentially what stopped me.

July 6 of this year I decided my fear was no longer going to keep me from this ride. I was scared, but I was not going to let my fear stop me. I took off that morning on a solo ride to the top.

It was tough, I plugged along one pedal stroke at a time eventually making it to the top exhausted, spent, shaking and elated I had made the climb. The view was beautiful! To think I had missed out on this for the last six years.

How often do we let our fears keep us from moving forward? How often do we have missed opportunities, and miss out on the beauty of life and the spectacular view because we let our fear hold us back?

I missed an opportunity in one situation because of fear, but in another I overcame my fear, and experienced a wonderful view as well as a sense of accomplishment. So do not let your fear stop you, you do not want to miss out on life and all of its spectacular views.

We Were Not Meant to do it Alone

For anyone that has read this blog, or knows me, you know I love to ride bikes. I often joke riding a bike is my Prozac. It brings peace to my soul, it energizes me, and I often get great thoughts when riding my bike.

When I lived in Utah I would ride by myself, and with some very close friends. It was nice, because there always seemed someone available to go for a ride. Since leaving Utah the majority of my rides have been by myself. These rides are great, and help me with a lot of introspection.

Recently I went to Utah for a few days, and got to ride with two of my best friends. One day was a classic ride up South Fork with one best friend. The next day was a new ride in Mapleton with another best friend. However, there was a lot on my mind I needed to sort out, and I felt I needed to go for a ride by myself. I felt like I needed alone time. This is what I do at home. I pound on the bike, work out the excess energy, and process everything that is currently going on in my life. It works.

The plan  was for me to ride alone early in the morning, and then later go for a short mountain bike ride on the fat bikes with my best friend. I woke up relatively early for vacation, and proceeded to ride. As I was riding I kept feeling like I needed to turn around, and go back and ride with my best friend. But I kept going. The feeling came to me again, but I kept riding. Then the thought came to me "you did not come to Utah to ride alone; you can ride alone at home." I continued to ride. The feeling continued, and got stronger, along with the thoughts. I knew I needed to turn around, so I did. (All of this occurred within 5 miles).

As soon as I turned around and rode back the thought came to me "God does not want you to do it alone."

Heavenly Father wants you not only to turn to him, but he wants you to turn to others, to let others be there for you, to help you along the path. As I rode back to be with my friend, one of my best friends, there was joy in my heart.

Later that day I went on the same trail with my best friend. We laughed, took goofy pictures, and rode much further than I would have by myself. I did not think about what was going on, but instead just had fun, and got way more out of the ride than I would have by myself.

There are times we need to be alone, but don't let it cause you to shut out others. Remember that God does not want you to do it alone. He wants you to have others in your life, to share in your experiences--good and not so good.

"We were not placed on this earth to walk alone." --Thomas S. Monson