6. Describe in your notebook the challenges you faced while learning to ride a
bicycles
Answers
Let’s be practical. What would you think of a sturdy guy at 25 who cannot ride a bicycle? It’s pretty ridiculous I know you will say. That was literally my story. Don’t be in a hurry to presume my personality, my childhood wasn’t completely boring and I was a very smart kid. I was more of an introvert growing up and never fancied outdoor activities. I preferred fumbling all day with any gizmo I could grab hold of. Growing up for me was rewarding though but it had downsides, one of which was that I practically could not handle a bicycle.
My friends teased me about it several times that I almost got used to it. It went on and on that even sibling would ask we go cycling and I would always defensively say, “It’s just not my thing”. I was never interested in learning how to because I believed I had no use for it. I would own a car so why should I bother, that had been my argument. A day came when a friend bluntly told me I can never ride a bicycle even if I try because I had gone past the learning period, that a 4 or 5 years child would have enough balance and coordination than me. There and then, the challenge began.
Overtime I have encountered challenges that I had to spring up to handle in a short time-frame. Like when I had to build my first C# Win Form application to manipulate a database after a faux two-weeks programming training. We were only taught basics of HTML and my employer, who was also my sponsor for the training, asked me to deliver the application in a week. I had to beef up to meet up the deadline. What an experience it was but learning to ride a bicycle, for me, was different and significant.
I had all I needed to make it work: a solid Breezer bike and the anger-fueled passion to prove I can. Yes, I can!. The only barrier was how much jokes people will make out of me, I wasn't sure if I would be able to handle it. I never let it get to me. I knew I would need a guide so I asked a good friend of mine to teach me how to ride a bicycle. He never believed it at first until he felt my sincerity. I guess he had thought it wasn't relevant anymore but as I have always known that success in little things make you confidently prepared for big things, I insisted.
The first training day came and it was ridiculous. I was being held on the bike and yet I could not maintain my balance. It just seemed impossible. I followed every guideline, yet there was just no sync between the bike and me. I got several unsolicited instructors, different comments every day from passersby. I was told I would perfect it in two days since I understood the concept but I still had not improved after the fourth day even with the amount of effort and devoted time spent on learning.
I got bothered at some point. It felt like my intelligence was way below par. I felt really horrible but as Winston Churchill rightly said, “Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never — in nothing, great or small, large or petty — never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”, though learning to ride a bicycle might be seen as petty, I never gave in”.
On the fifth day, I took the bicycle to the usual track alone. I was determined to ride it back home regardless how many times I fall. After about 2 hours of wavering on the bike without help, something in me just clicked like an event was called, everything I had heard started making sense to me. Steadily I could ride it a bit forward and further at every try. It just became easy all of a sudden and from that instance I could see and feel my learning progress. I felt so much gratification for such a little achievement.
Before I bore you all out, let me tell you why it was that significant to me. As petty as it might seem, what I learnt from it, I have been practicing every time I have a problem to crack. I honestly felt more confident about myself afterwards, like I could practically do anything. The belief, that I can do anything as long as I put in my very best and of course a little more if my best won’t suffice, was declared and have always been instantiated in every object of my life. I also realized that skills can’t be taught, one can only be exposed to the underlying concepts but by committed and consistent practice only will one be able to acquire those skills (might take just few days or several years as the case may be) and by constructively utilizing such skills will one be able to attain mastery of them.
I bet I thrilled you with my bicycle learning experience.