Fear me!
Quite recently I rode an intense weekly “race” here in Asheville. Rolling along at a brisk pace my entourage became frisky as decisive climbs approached. Twitching nervously, gripping their handlebars tightly, shoulders tensed, deft reaches for water bottles and food I thought about what mental state the cyclists surrounding me were in, the emotion governing their movement.
The gradient began to rise as the inaugural hill approached. Clicking my shifter to a lower gear, I shoved the bike forward launching a brazen attack. After a brief moment of hesitation a single rider bridged to my wheel, we exchanged pulls till the summit with the group chasing hard behind. Exchanging pulls we accelerated form the groupetto finishing the ride together.
The group behind were all physically fit, eager to attack or at least make a move. Why didn’t they? What held these riders at bay.
Fear…
There comes a point in a race, perhaps many when we are faced with a choice of making the decisive break in a race, sprinting for the finish line or maintaining contact on a steep climb. We can decide to burn our precious store of anaerobic matches, burying our bodies in a world of lactate induced pain, or we can sit up and let our competition rue the day.. These are the times when we can say yes or no. Take a risk – a chance or else restrict yourself to your fears and simply not do anything at all.
Most people self-limit themselves. People do not achieve a fraction of what they are capable of because they are afraid to try. We are all capable of so much in life and sport heedless of exterior perceptions from others or perceptions of one’s self. If we say we can’t do X because of some ill conceived notion of failure or difficulty, logically we will manifest this “fear” of performing a task poorly, if we do try at all.
The Law of Feedback states:
there is no failure; there is only feedback. Successful people look at mistakes as outcomes or results, not as failure.
Unsuccessful people look at mistakes as permanent and personal. Unsuccessful people that will look back at their choices intoxicated by fear with a sense or guilt, regret and resentment. As opposed to dishing out a hearty dose of positive constructive criticism, plucking out the positive aspects of the scenario, whilst taking heart of the lesson learned. Action gives you the power to change the circumstances or the situation. You must overcome the inertia by doing something.
Ask yourself these questions (seriously); What would you do if you knew you could not fail? How would you lead your life differently?
If you deliberate your actions in life and sport; be brave, quit being parsimonious in success. If it doesn’t work out the way you want, then do something else. But DO SOMETHING NOW.
Failure is about behavior, outcomes, and results. Failure is not a personality characteristic. If what you do may not give you the result you wanted, it doesn’t mean you yourself are a failure because you made a mistake. Hey, if nothing else, you know what doesn’t work. Failure is a judgment or evaluation of behavior.
I live(d) in a beautiful country full of opportunity, one can literally do whatever you want if you put your mind to it. Never forget however. A great percentage of the population lives in legitimate fear of finding enough food to feed them-selves or avoiding getting shot at and killed. Fear and hopelessness that is completely out of their grasp to control.
Would you be so fearful of what I deem small insignificant tasks in daily life (or great) if you came full circle with how fortunate we all are? If you fear riding hard during a race, forget not you still have a warm bed to sleep in at night, food on your table. Taking that extra risk, soaring above your pain threshold seems rather trivial in the grand scheme of things…..
I will say we all have fears, we are not emotionless computerized bodies of flesh yet through experience we can all defeat specific fears, beckoning an intellectual revivl in confidence and self esteem.
I fear much but thankfully through trial and error and have great influences like my ever entrepreneurial Mother, friends and adventures I have been blessed with a sense of perspective.
Take care eh
-Euro G
So a cycling lesson becomes an overall lesson for life. Excellent. Required reading for up and comers in cycling for sure. it don’t get no better.
I’d just like to add one small thing. Sometimes it seems like it’s the people that don’t quit that are the winners. In life’s pursuits it often seems to be the case where the old guy who toughed it out over all those years never to fall by the wayside and do something else that eventually achieves some success that propels their popularity in the sport. Good on them.
nevertheless you have some wonderful insights into mindset and such. This is like one of those articles for people to print out and stick on their bathroom mirror. In fact, I need to go check my black ink right now!
oh and thank u so much for taking the time to share your wonderful thoughts with people.
I couldn’t agree more. This is what I’ve been trying to say. You just put it into words better than I could.
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