Stunted Growth
Why is it that when we reach a certain age, we feel compelled to say “I’m too old for that” or even the saying, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks”. Respectfully I’d like to decline that mentality, unless you're trying to take me to a club filled with folks in their early twenties. Thank you but no thank you. I would be lying if I didn't say, those words hadn’t come out of my month once before. But what I am realizing is that getting older just means i’m more free to learn as i wish, when I wish and at the pace that I wish. I never realized how stunted my view point of getting older was, until I had to learn how to ride a bike.
At the end of 2016, my best friend, Jamilah and I took a trip to Bali for the new year. It was 10 days of relaxation and recuperation. During this trip, Jamilah found this beautiful destination called the Gili Islands. As it was only a 45 min ride from Ubud, we decided last minute to stay at Gili Trawangan for 36hrs. . After checking into our hotel we passed a bike shop where we were informed that it would only take about 2hrs to bike along the whole island and there are lots of beautiful secluded areas to check out. While it sounded so amazing, I also was super unsure, and you'll understand why.
Just a few months prior, Jamilah just taught both me and my sister how to ride a bike in central park. So naturally I was super excited but had many reservations. On a very busy street with plenty of onlookers, my big butt, grown 31yr old self was STRUGGLING, to stay on the bike. I remember literally saying “hold on, I got it” under my breathe every 3 seconds, knowing very well, I didn't have it at all. Jamilah looking behind to see if I had moved passed the 5ft from the bike shop. I am internally laughing because I knew we were never going to make it even a quarter mile with my bike struggles. 10min [i am being generous] after leaving the bike shop, we promptly returned them back. The owner looked at me with pity and refunded us our money because even he knew it wasn't fair to charge us for the babiest of bike rides.
As you can clearly tell, this memory forever haunts me and reminds me of some things, especially fundamental things I should know but was never taught. Now please don't think I never wanted to, I did. But I also grew up in Harlem during the crack epidemic, and no bikes were ever safe in the hood, so I naturally gravitated to the next best thing, a skateboard. There were no black skateboard kids in my hood, and definitely not during that time. So I had a safe bet of not getting my skateboard stolen because no one would have stolen it.
Fast forward to 2022 and now living in LA, the place with 50 million beaches and everyones either drives, ubers/lyfts, scooters and of course, bikes. I woke up one morning and started to look into biking classes. After a few days of searching, calling and emailing, I found the bike center. It took me a month to finally get myself to a class, because hell yea I was nervous, but more so because I had disgrace of Bali playing over and over in my head.
Look at lil ole me. You don’t need to ask me if I am proud of myself because just look at that cheesy ass smile.
I think feeling like you are too old for something is a completely normal feeling to have because your mind and body might not just be on the same page. There is also the fact of having to remind yourself you don’t have to stop learning. You don't have to stop moving and growing. Just do it at your own pace.
I actually need to back to that class for a refresher because its been a while, but also, I had taken one or two swimming lessons as well to add to my repertoire of basic skills.
Side bar, why do most island children not know how to swim? Things to think about.
But honestly, don't take yourself too seriously and don’t be afraid to try something new, especially something that might scare or even humiliate you [so you think]. Trust me, your body and your inner child will thank you along the way.
