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.
