I fell riding my bike last week. It wasn’t a serious fall. I was barely moving. My feet were clipped into my pedals and I just fell over and skinned my knee. No big deal right?

I thought nothing of my fall until I got back on my bike a couple of days later. I fumlbed with the clips and the pedals throughout the first part of the ride. The fall on some level frightened me. Should I just ride without clips from now on and be safer? My pedal stroke wouldn’t be as powerful and efficient and I wouldn’t be able to go up hills as easy. However, I would never fall over again while standing still. I could take the easy way out. Never…. I put my feet back in those clips and by the end of my ride it was second nature to me again.

There are many people who I have observed throughout my life take the easy way out after an attempt at something that ended in failure. Fear of failing is a real emotion that inhibits some people from achieving their full potential. I don’t want to be one of those. Failure helps us grow internally. It gives us a memory that one can build upon the next time adversity “hits you in the face”. It makes us stronger. I don’t know how many times someone has told me that I can’t do something. Many of those instances it scared me to death to try something new. Sometimes I failed again and again and again. Sometimes it would of been smarter to take the safe road. But, what fun is that?

So get back on that bike!