There's been a couple of instances lately, where I have tried something different, and learned from the experience. In one case, I was nervous about trying something, and probably wouldn't have done it unless I was pushed into it, and the other was something that I chose to do.
In both cases however, I came out from the other side of the experience, having gained something positive from it.
The first example was something I have never wanted to do, and had never really thought of even trying it. If you have read my profile, you will know that I travel overseas regularly for business, including the US. Whenever I have been there, I have always really enjoyed myself and have found the people I meet friendly, polite and very easy to get along with. I have however always had to rely on public transport or taxis to get around.
Recently, I went to the US to attend a trade show in San Diego, and my wife came along (minus the kids) to do a little sight seeing, and have a little holiday while I was attending the show. She also wanted to explore on the weekend, and proposed we hire a car. The mere suggestion of doing this made me break out in a cold sweat. I simply could not imagine myself driving in the US on the wrong side of the road (as far as Australians are concerned), nor was I brave enough to consider driving in LA or San Diego in what I assumed would be much busier traffic than sleepy old Perth, Western Australia. I also couldn't imagine stepping off a 20 something hour flight from Perth to LAX, jumping into a car at the airport, and driving from LAX to San Diego without having some sort of incident along the way!
We really wanted to cover some ground on the weekend after the show though, so my wife managed to twist my arm and convince me to hire the car. She used cunning arguments like "Don't worry, it will be Sunday morning when we arrive and the traffic will be quiet..." and "You'll have me helping you, I'll keep an eye on the traffic and where we are going."
As the day got closer, I was getting more nervous, but I also accepted that it was going to happen, and couldn't get out of it now.
How did it go? It went remarkably well. When I first got off the plane and started heading down the freeway to San Diego, it felt very strange and I kept having to force myself to check my mirrors etc because they simply weren't in the places where my eyes naturally wanted to go. I also found I was drifting in my lane from time to time, and getting a little too close to vehicles in adjacent lanes. My wife however kept me honest, and before we knew it, we made it to San Diego. On other days, we drove around a fair bit, and I actually started to find it very enjoyable. It was much easier being in charge of my own destiny, being free to drive anywhere, whenever I wanted, without having to rely on others.
I did have three "uh oh" moments where I forgot what side of the road I was driving on. Nothing particularly scary, more embarrassing really. The best one was where I parked in front of a hotel, hopped out, quickly checked in and then jumped back in the car to go and park it. I put on the seat belt, went to put the key in the ignition...
...and found myself on the passenger side of the car.
In the end, I absolutely enjoyed the challenge and the freedom of driving in the US, and I will now hire a car pretty much everytime I go there. I actually saved money this last time around compared to catching cabs everywhere.
The other new experience was when my daughter bought herself a Ripstik about 3 weeks ago. For those of you who are not aware, they are all the rage with kids at the moment and you will see them all over the place here, particularly along bike paths, parks and skateboarding areas and the like. I used to ride a skateboard when I was a kid and thought that these look like good fun, but not something I could do now without seriously hurting myself.
My daughter (11) had trouble getting going with hers, so I surfed You-tube, and picked up a few tips about learning how to ride one of these deadly contraptions. I then helped Emily to get onto hers and ride it a little while holding on to me. After a few attempts however, she was sick of falling off whenever she let go, and went inside.
I saw the Ripstik sitting there, and couldn't help myself. It looked like so much fun on You-tube and it had been about 20 years since I was last on a skateboard, so I gave it a go...
...and fell off.
I tried again and came off, this time taking a bit of skin off my palms as I fell to the ground.
I then tried one more time, and I manage to roll all the way down the patio before I came to a semi controlled stop. I was bitten by the Ripstik bug!
The next day, we went to a car boot sale, and there was a cheap and slightly battered Ripstik lookalike which I bought for about one third the price of Emily's. From that day on, we have been regularly trying to learn how to ride our Ripstiks together at home, in parks and anywhere else the opportunity presents itself. Neither of us are exactly carving up the pavement like you see in the videos, but we can both get going now without assistance and ride along quite confidently and dodge obstacles etc, without hurting ourselves. We're having an absolute ball, and it is quality time where we spend learning something new together.
Both of these experiences have made me realise that as we get older, it is very important that we keep trying new things. It helps us by keeping our minds active, making us more aware of things outside our normal spheres of influence and experience and it gives us opportunities to do things with those we love. It's a win win situation, and if something doesn't end up working out, we have still gained by having the new experience in any event.
So the next time you are confronted with a challenge, I suggest you embrace it, and learn something from it, rather than decide it is too hard. You won't regret it. All of this has also made me realise it is healthy to set yourself new challenges, or new things to try on a regular basis.
It can be riding a RipStik, it can be driving in a foreign country on the wrong side of the road, it can be trying out Linux for the first time, or learning a new language. The opportunities to learn are endless.
Later.
PS: There were two things that really made driving on the "wrong side" of the road much easier. Firstly, I took my TomTom navigator with me, so the worry of not knowing where I was going was completely taken away. I just followed its directions blindly without caring if it did or didn't feel right. The other was a hint I received from someone, which was to always remember that the driver had to be on the inside of the road. This made remembering which side of the road to turn into for a left vs right turn semi-automatic, thereby removing the other main worry when driving on the other side for the first time. Just keep yourself always towards the innerside of the road (not the outside edge) and you pretty much can't go wrong!
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