Fearless. Free from all fear. Brave. Courageous. Undaunted. When was the last time you felt this way? What were you doing that gave you this bliss? Was it something new or something sweetly familiar? Did it take you to new exciting places or keep you safe in the warm comfort of what you know?
Today I saw fearlessness. I saw the sparkle in the eye of 9. I heard the strength in his voice about something he was excited to do, yet had never done before. Something he has been asking to try and conquer yet had no background or parental guidance to do so. Today 9 decided to take on the world of snowboarding!
It amazes me how different children are. From a young age he has been fearless. This has not always been comfortable for a first time mom as I felt he would surely hurt himself at any given moment. I cannot even count how many times I thoroughly thought his face would be bitten off by every neighborhood dog he greeted a bit too close. However, as the years have passed, I have seen that this is truly a gift from God that he has been given. It is not something that everyone innately possesses. Sadly, it is something that many people will never know. Their minds race with the 'what if's' and they cannot relax and enjoy the new experiences around them. This is not our 9!
For the last year he has mentioned wanting to try snowboarding. For a kid who has dealt with balance and coordination issues, I was apprehensive. I knew he would fall. A lot! I worried that he would become discouraged. When he first learned to use inline skates, it was horrible. There were tears and angry feelings because he couldn't go as fast as his friends. I didn't want to go back there, although after many years he is now a pro at the inline skating world.
So, out of parental selfishness, I would put it off and tell him that it was a long drive. It was expensive. It was too cold. It was too warm. I had a lot of good valid reasons to keep him from going down that expansive snow covered hill. But the biggest reason wasn't really any of the ones I mentioned above.
The big reason I didn't want him to do it was that I was scared. I was scared he would get hurt. I was scared he would have difficulty with his coordination and get very frustrated. I was afraid he would compare himself to the others on the slopes whizzing by and feel less than. I didn't want that for him. I wanted to protect him from the pain. I wanted to shield him from the hurt. But he was determined.
9 kept on persisting. I finally caved and told him that if he worked hard on his homework for two weeks and got started on it without prompting from me that I would take him for a snowboarding lesson. I tell you....BRIBERY WORKS!! For two weeks that kid came home, got his stuff out and got to work. He didn't complain, he didn't procrastinate, and he surely didn't have to be reminded more than once. It was crunch time. He saw the finish line and wanted to get that proverbial snow covered carrot!
So today was the day! He had earned his day on the slippery slopes! However, on our way there, he had no questions about what to expect. He had no trepidation in his voice when I told him that he might fall. Even when we arrived and saw the HUGE snow covered hills there was no nervousness. He was here! He was soaking it all in! He was ready! It was all business and being in the moment. Getting the passes and rentals! Talking like he been here a million times to the guys working there, "Yeah, I need to rent a board!" Who is this child so unlike me, yet born of me?
I watched him as he walked away up the hill with not a glimpse back at me for comfort. He didn't need it. He wasn't worried. He was reveling! He was living in the moment and ready to enjoy all that it was going to give him. He wasn't thinking, "What if I fall?" He knew he would. It came with the territory. He would get back up. He wasn't thinking "What if I get hurt?" He knew he would. Hopefully the pain wouldn't last too long and he could get back up and enjoy the ride.
Today got me thinking. What if we lived more "Fearless" like 9? How liberating would we feel? How content would our soul be? What if instead of thinking about all the things that could go wrong, we just accept that things will go wrong? What if instead of worrying about those things, we focus on the good that we are experiencing now and let the challenges come when they do. Rather than worrying about the future we welcome the present.
We know that the other times will come. We all have them. That is life. Things are not going to go our way all the time. We are going to fall down. We are going to get hurt. We are going to feel frustrated and other people are going to be better at things than us. But life has so many new experiences to offer us and if we stayed in the safe warm lodges of our lives all the time, we would miss the rush of the crisp February air on our cheeks. We would miss the bright blue sky and wispy clouds above. The essence of living would be lost.
As parents if we always shelter our children out of fear, which is so easy to do, we will forget that they have wings that need to flutter. They have hills to conquer and slide down. They have fearlessness inside of them that far surpasses our own. We need to cultivate that and snap the picture in our memories of those beaming smiles when success is found. That my friends, is what true confidence is made of.
On the slopes of life with you all---
K
Today I saw fearlessness. I saw the sparkle in the eye of 9. I heard the strength in his voice about something he was excited to do, yet had never done before. Something he has been asking to try and conquer yet had no background or parental guidance to do so. Today 9 decided to take on the world of snowboarding!
It amazes me how different children are. From a young age he has been fearless. This has not always been comfortable for a first time mom as I felt he would surely hurt himself at any given moment. I cannot even count how many times I thoroughly thought his face would be bitten off by every neighborhood dog he greeted a bit too close. However, as the years have passed, I have seen that this is truly a gift from God that he has been given. It is not something that everyone innately possesses. Sadly, it is something that many people will never know. Their minds race with the 'what if's' and they cannot relax and enjoy the new experiences around them. This is not our 9!
For the last year he has mentioned wanting to try snowboarding. For a kid who has dealt with balance and coordination issues, I was apprehensive. I knew he would fall. A lot! I worried that he would become discouraged. When he first learned to use inline skates, it was horrible. There were tears and angry feelings because he couldn't go as fast as his friends. I didn't want to go back there, although after many years he is now a pro at the inline skating world.
So, out of parental selfishness, I would put it off and tell him that it was a long drive. It was expensive. It was too cold. It was too warm. I had a lot of good valid reasons to keep him from going down that expansive snow covered hill. But the biggest reason wasn't really any of the ones I mentioned above.
The big reason I didn't want him to do it was that I was scared. I was scared he would get hurt. I was scared he would have difficulty with his coordination and get very frustrated. I was afraid he would compare himself to the others on the slopes whizzing by and feel less than. I didn't want that for him. I wanted to protect him from the pain. I wanted to shield him from the hurt. But he was determined.
9 kept on persisting. I finally caved and told him that if he worked hard on his homework for two weeks and got started on it without prompting from me that I would take him for a snowboarding lesson. I tell you....BRIBERY WORKS!! For two weeks that kid came home, got his stuff out and got to work. He didn't complain, he didn't procrastinate, and he surely didn't have to be reminded more than once. It was crunch time. He saw the finish line and wanted to get that proverbial snow covered carrot!
So today was the day! He had earned his day on the slippery slopes! However, on our way there, he had no questions about what to expect. He had no trepidation in his voice when I told him that he might fall. Even when we arrived and saw the HUGE snow covered hills there was no nervousness. He was here! He was soaking it all in! He was ready! It was all business and being in the moment. Getting the passes and rentals! Talking like he been here a million times to the guys working there, "Yeah, I need to rent a board!" Who is this child so unlike me, yet born of me?
I watched him as he walked away up the hill with not a glimpse back at me for comfort. He didn't need it. He wasn't worried. He was reveling! He was living in the moment and ready to enjoy all that it was going to give him. He wasn't thinking, "What if I fall?" He knew he would. It came with the territory. He would get back up. He wasn't thinking "What if I get hurt?" He knew he would. Hopefully the pain wouldn't last too long and he could get back up and enjoy the ride.
Today got me thinking. What if we lived more "Fearless" like 9? How liberating would we feel? How content would our soul be? What if instead of thinking about all the things that could go wrong, we just accept that things will go wrong? What if instead of worrying about those things, we focus on the good that we are experiencing now and let the challenges come when they do. Rather than worrying about the future we welcome the present.
We know that the other times will come. We all have them. That is life. Things are not going to go our way all the time. We are going to fall down. We are going to get hurt. We are going to feel frustrated and other people are going to be better at things than us. But life has so many new experiences to offer us and if we stayed in the safe warm lodges of our lives all the time, we would miss the rush of the crisp February air on our cheeks. We would miss the bright blue sky and wispy clouds above. The essence of living would be lost.
As parents if we always shelter our children out of fear, which is so easy to do, we will forget that they have wings that need to flutter. They have hills to conquer and slide down. They have fearlessness inside of them that far surpasses our own. We need to cultivate that and snap the picture in our memories of those beaming smiles when success is found. That my friends, is what true confidence is made of.
On the slopes of life with you all---
K
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