Thursday, October 2, 2008

THE REALIZATION OF THE POWER WITHIN

Being defeated is temporary, but giving up makes it permanent.

This past Sunday my son and his self-esteem took off into the the next stratosphere. He rode his bike without the training wheels one week to the day he attempted it for the first time. At that moment he authored an irreplaceable memory and chapter in his childhood and a proud moment in my adulthood.

It was the worst of times, it was the best of times. From the wobbling, swerving, the soft crash landings in the grass, the frustration, the tears, the crying and yes the snotty nose and dirty looks at Dad to the moment when the light bulb came on and he surprised himself. As my son pushed off the pavement, he pedalled and turned the handlebars from side to side. In a split second the bike and my son became smaller and smaller as he rode further and further away from me. All of a sudden, it all begins to make sense. Dad's instructions were simple; "The moment you stop pedalling is the moment that you fall."What initially sounded like a foreign language to him turned into a fluent, prophetic proverb that is applicable to our lives.

After countless repetitive commands, words of encouragement, face-to-face stare downs, man to boy challenges, and reverse psychology fused with echoed positive affirmations, my son consolidated his confusion, determination, frustration, setbacks and turned them into the best day of his life, the best ride of his life, and the best coaching job of my life. He turned around and from about 300 feet away I could see his ear-to-ear smile, I could hear the excitement in his stomach where butterflies once did back flips, and I could taste the victory and hear the roar of the crowd as we laughed and popped imaginary champagne bottles in celebration of this milestone and a rite of passage of every boy's life. It was freedom in every sense of the word.

In that very lesson of riding his bike, my son taught me more than I could ever teach him. He taught me to utilize my periodic impatient nature to create a competitive fire within. I told him several times, "get mad at me, then prove me wrong and ride this bike. Prove me wrong, son. We are not going home until you get this thing right." As I said these very words to him, I then held myself to the very same standard. Get mad at the haters, listen to their criticism, internalize it, then do everything in your power to shut them up and never mention a word of your victory to them. Thus, when goals are achieved, it's not a notion of 'I told you so', it's a notion of I told myself so.
























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