It’s not often as adults that we get to try something new. Life’s daily grind tends to dampen the spirit of our inner explorer. With age it becomes even more difficult to escape our comfort zone to try new things. But every time I make the effort to learn a new skill or try a new sport, I almost always have fun doing so. So why is it so hard? And how do we re-kindle the explorer in us? Hang out with a six year old. They have the whole trying new stuff thing dialled.
I was at a BMX track the other night with my son. Both of us being first timers, we arrived to see a dozen kids getting their game on doing laps on the track. It was a chill environment with just local kids, many of whom pedalled from home to ride the track. My son had put on his kneepads about an hour before and had been wearing his helmet for most of the day in anticipation of riding his brand new BMX bike on an actual BMX track. He was stoked. For myself, I had my little steel hardtail and I too, was excited, but I was also a little scared. While I’ve been riding bikes my whole life, and started, like most kids, on a BMX, I had never actually ridden a BMX track. What was it going to be like? Was I going to suck? Will I crash in front of a bunch of children? This is what was going through my head as I put my helmet and kneepads on.
We both made our way to the start platform and both of us, like twins, sat and watched all the kids riding, speechless, for about ten minutes before deciding to drop in. And in that ten minutes I realized we were both just enjoying the nervous sensation of trying something new. How great a feeling is that? And the older you get, the harder it is to create that feeling. As a six year old, this is a daily occurrence.
My son looked at me and said, “you go first dad and then maybe you can watch me.” Being as nervous as he was, but knowing that this was one of those moments where you need to be the person your kid thinks you are, I put my left foot on the pedal and dropped in.
Bliss. The next three hours, until such time that the bugs were so bad we had to stop, my son and I, thirty years apart, had a blast riding lap after lap on our bikes. I watched his skills go from tentative first steps to doubling the rollers and looking through the corners to giving his dad pointers. It was almost the same for me. My learning curve wasn’t quite as quick but wow was it fun. Doubly so when my little man got to watch his dad wash out of a corner and slam himself into the dirt. I could hear the screaming giggles of about ten kids behind me on the start ramp. Bliss.
Life is difficult. But moments like that, where we can let go and try something new, that take us beyond our comfort zone, are truly magical. To do so with your child is a gift beyond measure. Whether it’s ski touring for the first time, learning to ride a skateboard as a dad, taking piano or swimming lessons at 40 or just trying something different, it’s always worth it. So do yourself a favour and try something new. It’s usually pretty fun and tends to make everything in life seem a little more beautiful than it was the day before.
