Falling, Getting Back Up, and Learning

What happens if you fall?  What can we learn from our failures? In this minisode, I share what I learned from falling, getting back up, and why its so important to keep going ESPECIALLY after you fall.

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 Music: Jason Kay
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Transcript

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Welcome to author your life, a podcast about making bold moves and big changes, living life powerfully on your own terms, outside social norms and expectations. Through conversations with inspiring individuals who forge their own path in life, we'll explore what it takes to face your fears and go after your dreams. You are not a victim of circumstance, you can always begin again, start a new chapter and rewrite your story. This is author your life. And I'm your host, Julie B. Let's get the conversation started. All right. Hello, and welcome to another episode of author your life. Today, I would like to chat about falling. And I have two stories. Two quick stories I want to share with you guys. That happened actually, to me recently this summer that I know will illustrate the point I'm trying to make. So I went on a bike ride with my friends last month. And it was a really, like the day after it rained, the ground was super wet and slippery. I actually don't know how to properly ride a bike downhill. No one ever taught me that. So I am super nervous about it. And was super cautious. So here we are on this really out like uncapped asphalt trail, going downhill around the corner on the slippery asphalt. And I am like pumping my brakes. And my like I'm losing control of the bike completely, I start fishtailing I start going to the side of the road will decide to trail and just like topple over sideways into the brambles in the bushes. And I come up, like scrapes all down my leg, there was like a twig stuck in between the spokes of the bike wheel. And it was just, I was fine. I was shaking, though, I was really nervous and really scared. And I got back on the bike, and we proceeded to have the rest of our ride. Okay. And then at the end of the ride, we decided to ride up to the top of reservoir, which requires coming back down, which is straight downhill on this cobblestone path. Once again, downhill, slippery, and I was very nervous and very apprehensive. Uh, you know, I had already taken a topple off my bike earlier that day, and was still a little shaken from it. And, you know, once that happens, you think, Oh, I already fell once it's going to happen again. I don't want to risk it. Maybe I should just walk downhill. So I get on my bike. And I'm like, You know what, I'll try it. I'll go super, super, super slow. So I get on my bike, and I start going down the hill, super, super, super slow, super scared, super cautious. Meanwhile, my friends are so far ahead of me. Like they're just cruising downhill. And I'm like, Well, if they can go faster, of course I can. What's wrong with me, I so I start going faster, and freak out, pump the brakes, lose control of the bike, and topple over again. And at this point, I'm like, Okay, this is my second fall of the day. I just fell over my leg hurts. It scraped up. I'm visibly shaken. I'm like, I really, really don't want this to happen again. And my friend comes over and is like, Jules, it's fine. We'll walk the rest of the way. I'll walk with you. Come on, get up, shake it off. Let's go, this is fine. And I said, No, I need to get back on the bike immediately. did not give myself a second to think about it. The fear was there. And I chose to act despite the fear. Because I knew my subconscious brain. If I chose not to get back on the bike in that moment, my subconscious brain was gonna learn that falling is scary. And you want to do everything in your power to prevent it from happening. That going downhill on a bike is impossible. And it's something that I cannot do and I am incapable of doing. So if I failed once I failed twice. I fell twice. Well, clearly that's evidence that I'm incapable and I can't ride a bike downhill so why bother trying again? I refused to give into the fear. I did not want my subconscious to internalize that message that I am incapable, and I can't do it. I had to prove to myself that I can. That's why I got right back up. So I got right back up, GOP, as you know, visibly shaking, got back on the bike, took a deep breath, and said, No, I can. And that's actually when I shared with my friend, I was like, you know, I really don't know how to ride a bike downhill. And thankfully, he showed me he's like, you know, here's what you do, you kind of like gently press the brakes. And you just coast super slow. So I took the advice. And what do you know, I made it all the way down to the bottom of the hill with no problems. And again, I went super slow took my time. This time, though, I had a technique and I actually knew what to do. And that made the difference. I was so proud of myself, I've just so pumped, so happy that in the face of potentially giving up and throwing in the towel and just saying this isn't for me, I can't do this. I chose to get back up and do it again. And now I know that I can. And next time that I'm faced with a downhill and I'm on my bike, you know, I'm still going to be a little nervous and apprehensive. I'm not going to go into it with like Superwoman confidence. I will say though, it's not going to stop me, because I know that I can handle it. So every single time that you fall down, you have to get back up. You just have to and it's not just about getting back up. It's about getting back up and continue moving forward. So yes, you can fall off the bike and say, You know what, this isn't for me, I'm never going to ride a bike again. And then maybe go do something else. But then you'll never know, maybe if you had just tried, maybe you would actually be common amazing bike rider if you just kept at it. And this happened again, it happened again. Last week, actually, I was walking down by the water on the rocks and flip flops, which perhaps wasn't the smartest idea. And I'm kind of like half running, like having fallen and my foot slips I lose my footing and I fall on the rocks. And this time, it really hurt. Like I hit my thigh. I braced my fall on my arm. I mean, it's like, you fall you're shaken. Same exact thing happened. I took a quick body scan said am I seriously injured? Am I gushing out blood anywhere? No. Okay, I'm fine. Take a deep breath, get back on the rocks. And I did. So again, the lesson could have been, don't ever walk on rocks again. Or the lesson could be you can do whatever you set your mind to. And even if you fall once, or twice or 10 times, as long as you get yourself back up. Try again and keep moving forward. It's not going to hold you back. So when you take this lesson into anything else that you want to try, like, maybe you want to learn a new instrument, I actually want to learn to play keyboard, and I'm not practicing. So I'm not actually making progress. If I did practice, and I attempt to play like a super basic song like hot potato or three blind mice, and I get three chords completely wrong or mess up the keys or get the tempo off. Am I gonna just throw my arms in the air stomp away in a hissy fit and say, Ah, keyboards not for me. I'm never gonna get it. That's just it. I can't do it anymore. No. I mean, I might want to do that. There's, there's a little kid inside of me that definitely wants to have that reaction. But what I'm actually going to do is try again, and try again and try again and try again. And if you're starting a business, maybe your first business, you launch a product, you put it out into the world, and no one buys it. Then what do you do? Do you say, Oh, I wasn't meant to do this. I can't be in business for myself. I don't have anything of value to offer. I'm done. I give up. No. You try again. You come up with something different. You learn from that experience. Just like I learned on my downhill bike ride, I learned that I needed to brake more properly and more efficiently. So I learned Got up, tried it again and it worked out better. So anytime that you fail or fall, you do want to learn something from it. You want to look at what happened. There's absolutely nothing wrong with you, you are fine. There's just something in the process or the way that you attempted it or your execution that needs to be tweaked, or that could use some improvement. And whenever you find out what that thing is, get back up and try again. And then just keep that process going. And that is literally the process of learning. That's the learning process. That's how we grow. And that's it for today. I hope you guys have a wonderful day, and I'll catch you next time. Thank you so much for joining this conversation. If you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to leave a review a five star rating. Be sure to hit subscribe to catch all future episodes. I would love to know who's listening and your biggest takeaway from this episode. If this podcast was valuable, please share with a friend. Take a screenshot and post to your social media. Hashtag author life podcast and tag me. It's Julie B underscore Your support helps this podcast grow. Until next time, friends. Keep writing your story and author your life