Remember……when you first learned how to ride a bike?
Remember when you climbed onto your bike, put your hands on the handlebars, feet on the pedals, gave yourself a push?
Did you wobble a bit?
Did you fall down?
Remember how you found your sense of balance, and you felt like you could go ANYWHERE you wanted to go?
Because once you got in motion….There was no stopping you?
When my son, Jamie was 5 years old, he had trouble learning to ride a bike.
Jamie was a bright, happy little boy, but two years earlier, Jamie was diagnosed with Autism. Jamie had difficulty with speech, making connections with others……but mostly, it was hard for Jamie to learn complex physical movements…..like riding a bike.
According to his doctor, Jamie had no internal sense of balance…..and may never learn to ride a bike.
Remember when…you first learned how to ride a bike, how hard it was to balance?
Imagine what it would be like….if you didn’t have the ability at all?
Jamie REALLY wanted to ride. Every day, I’d come home from work, Jamie’d run out of the house, all excited – “Dad, I wanna ride a bike!”….. climb on his little red bike with training wheels, hands on the handlebars; feet on the pedals….and I’d give him a push.
He’d wobble a bit…..then fall down.
He’d get on the bike again..and fall down. He’d try over…and over…and over….Jamie just couldn’t balance, even WITH his training wheels.
Eventually, Jamie would get frustrated, tears rolling down his cheeks……”I’m never going to ride a bike…” He’d run back in the house and slam the door.
As a parent, it just tore my heart out.
Jamie…..really wanted to learn how to ride. ….I had to find a way to teach him. But how?
I remembered back when I was FIVE years old…I had trouble learning to ride a bike. I had to look to someone older and wiser, who already knew how. My brother JIM. Jim knew how to ride a bike, right? Jim knew EVERYTHING! Jim was SEVEN!
Jim said, “These training wheels just slow you down….” And took them off.
THEN, He took me and my bike to the top of the tallest hill in the neighborhood, put my hands on the handlebars, my feet on the pedals……and gave me a PUSH.
Once I got in motion, THERE WAS… NO STOPPING ME.
Literally……. I kept picking up speed, going faster and faster…..until I ran SMACK! into a ’64 Buick, PARKED at the bottom of the hill.
Once I regained consciousness …. I realized ….it isn’t balance that keeps you upright …..it’s MOTION. …..the bike has to be moving FORWARD, FAST ENOUGH to GIVE you that sense of balance.
That lesson came back to me as I wondered…..HOW do I create that motion, that sense of speed for Jamie? WITHOUT pushing him down a hill?
I remembered my brother Jim’s words….”Training wheels just slow you down….so I took them off.
THEN, I bolted a handle on the back of the bike – so I could GENTLY steady Jamie while he picked up speed and learned how to balance.
And it seemed to work! “Jamie, you made it to the end of the driveway!”
“Wow, You rode all the way to the end of the street!”
Jamie was riding without training wheels!….but I was still holding on.
I didn’t want him to fall or get hurt…….but really, I was holding him back.
For Jamie to really learn how to ride, I had to learn to let go.
Throughout the summer, every day, Jamie would ride just a little bit further. He’s pedaling along, “Hang on Dad!”
“I’m hanging on , Jamie!….as I’m running along behind him…..
But every day, I’m holding on just a little…bit…less.
By the end of the summer, Jamie’s riding all the way around the block..Jamie’s pedaling along… “hang on Dad!”
…and I’m still running along behind.
At the end of the block, Jamie got off the bike, “Were you hanging on, Dad? .”
”Jamie, I haven’t been hanging on for a week. That was all you.”
Jamie got a BIG grin on his face……”Dad, I CAN RIDE A BIKE!”
I was proud of Jamie that day……and still am. Jamie went from riding a block….to riding a mile…to riding 5 miles,, …to completing 5 100-mile century rides.
But it didn’t end there.
That victory spilled into other areas of Jamie’s life…..into graduating High School with a 4.0 average…..achieving the rank of Eagle Scout….today, Jamie’s in college, still picking up speed, riding into his future.
And It all started…..with taking off his training wheels.
Once he got in motion,
THERE WAS NO STOPPING HIM.
What about you?
Have you been too dependent on YOUR training wheels?
Have you gotten started, made it to a certain point….but holding on to your safety net has been holding you back?….keeping you from picking up speed and going where you really want to go?
Like my brother Jim said…..”Training wheels just slow you down.” If you want to go places, you’ve got to take them off.
You may wobble a bit…you might fall down….you might even run SMACK! Into a ‘64 Buick…….
but moving FORWARD will give you a sense of balance, and you’ll go ANYWHERE you want to go.
Once you get in motion….THERE’S NO STOPPING YOU.
