There are a lot of things in our lives that started out with us needing help. Eating, bathing, getting dressed, walking, talking, riding a bike, and swinging, among many others.
You can pick which ever one "connects" with you in this analogy but, as you can tell from the graphic at the top of this article, I've chosen to use learning to swing on a swing set.
You don't remember how it was before but maybe you've seen pictures and/or videos of how it all began. You likely started out in some sort of special "baby swing" so that you didn't fall out of or off of the swing!
Your parents - or someone else - would put you in that swing and.....
Well, if it were completely up to you using what you knew about swinging then the end of the last sentence would read something like....absolutely nothing happened. You just sat there in your swing.
However, more than likely what happened was that someone began to push you in your swing and you begin to move back and forth with no effort of your own.
Pretty cool, right?
Even better than that was when you got old enough to communicate - even just a little - and you could call out for someone to push you so that you could swing. And they would! "Swing!" or "Push!" and someone would come running to help you swing as you smiled and laughed and enjoyed this swinging with, again, little to no effort on your part.
So, what happened?
At some point, others began to tire of you needing to be pushed and they began to teach you and show you how, with the movement of your legs and body, you could swing all by yourself anytime that you wanted!
It was hard to do at first, do you remember? You couldn't quite get the movement down to get going the way that you wanted but someone kept working with you and showing you how to do it and, before you knew it, YOU WERE SWINGING ALL BY YOURSELF!
What freedom! What adventure! No longer were you tied to what others could do or wanted to do - you could do this ALL BY YOURSELF!
I remember swinging for hours on end with all kinds of "adventures" going through my head. I even remember once thinking that I could jump over a low hanging branch right in front of my swing set and.....yes, you got it...I even TRIED to jump over that limb. That didn't turn out well!
But did that stop me from swinging again? NO!
Did that keep me from enjoying the thrill of swinging as high as I could? NO!
Even now, at 54 years of age, if I find a swing in a park I cannot resist sitting in the swing and swinging back and forth.
Surely, by now, you've figured out the analogy.
When we are trying something new in this journey of reaching our goals and dreams, we need a lot of help at first. We need someone (or a group of people) to teach us, to train us on what to do and how to do it. Aren't you glad these people exist?
Perhaps it's just encouragement that you get from blogs like this and podcast like the ones I put out. I'm glad I can be a part of your journey!
But, with all of this, there comes a time when you have to step out and step up and do it yourself, FOR yourself!
If you refuse to do so you are missing out on the thrill and exhilaration that comes with enjoying the freedom of "doing it" ALL BY YOURSELF!
And just think...just like the example of learning how to swing, you will get the opportunity to teach and train someone else to do the same thing and to enjoy the same freedom, thrill and exhilaration that you have experienced and enjoyed.
And friend, I don't know that there are many things in life better than that!
Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your day. I really mean that.
As you continue along your journey, whatever you do, be sure to...
"Make it an AWESOME day! (Who else is going to do it for you?)"
Mike
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