Training Wheels

I first learned how to bike when I was 7. As the training wheels helped me climb up the block, I have since yearned for the day that I wouldn’t need the aid and be just fine without it. After that day, I asked my dad to take off the training wheels. I practiced, fell, cried, and repeated the process until I learned how to ride a bike without the help. Perhaps it was similar to how I learn about life.

Now 17, bikes turned to scooters until it turned into cars. The more machines I learned, the more I realize how difficult it is to be human. I have lost and found and lost who I am— who I was—- in the process of growing up.

It’s a scary process, to try to grow up and move into adulthood. Sometimes I think everything is moving way too fast, that if I blink I’ll be elsewhere. And I don’t know if I want to be there just yet.

There is something rewarding about accomplishing something you’ve never done before, yet there is a responsibility that goes along with it that we are unsure we could handle. Maybe that’s how life is— we aren’t 100% all the time. I think that’s okay, we’re still learning and still getting a grip of things— we still are in our training wheels. 

The fears and anxiety we have deep inside— checking if we’re doing things right and worrying about our futures is something completely normal. Every adult is still figuring it out, no matter how composed they are. Just like us, it’s no muscle memory or a switch that can be flicked to make things work out better than it is. This is your life, and the only changes that can be done is through you. 

The time and work it takes to get to where you want to be might not be what you expected, but the fact that you are putting in all this effort to make it happen is a bigger step than those who are too scared to do anything. The moment we start working on ourselves, for ourselves, is when we truly get to somehow enjoy the process and see that we’re getting better. 

After all, we are a work in progress. Sometimes we do things right, other times not. We learn from our mistakes and improve them, and maybe along the way we find ourselves. We can’t change others, but what we can do is change ourselves. We could get hurt, but we can heal in the midst of it. Do what you are doing for yourself, and eventually you won’t need the training wheels anymore. You'll be independent and capable of doing what you set your heart to.