Believe you can – just do it!

“Don’t stop searching until you get the answer you want, find the solution or discover something new." These were words that my primary school teacher had written across the top of her blackboard every day we entered the class. Ever since I was in that class there’s one thing I’ve always imagined doing but never have, SKATEBOARDING!!!

I’d see my friends skateboarding to and from school and they all looked so cool, I wanted it, I wanted it bad. I wanted to experience the thrill that must be felt from carving down a hill; with the vision in my head it was as if I knew exactly what to do. The only thing was that through being born with cerebral palsy I was told that my balance was “poor”, and well… skateboarding, combined with “poor balance”... that sounds like a recipe for something rather painful. Despite believing I could do it (because I could see myself doing it) I choose (for too long) to think that I couldn’t, to not run the risk of failure, until about five weeks ago when I thought myself... why am I undermining what I believe in based on perceptions that I’ve adopted but that are not my own?

One of the only constants in this world is CHANGE and with enhancements in technology things are changing faster than ever before. The traditional skateboard that requires one to kick and push in order to move (and the continual adjustment of one's balance) has been left in the dark ages. Change and technology has led to the development of the electric skateboard, replacing the ‘kick and push’ with a handheld control where the more I pull the faster I move and with that I now experience the thrill of carving down a hill.

This experience and realisation kind of reminds me of the quote from Marianne Williamson made famous by the basketball movie ‘Coach Carter’. “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.”

I could have stayed in the darkness, not been curious of change and kept telling myself that I can’t skateboard… maybe skateboarding purists would question my actual ability given the assistance of technology, but that comes down to what one uses to measure the success of an experience.

What are some of the things you believe you can do but tell yourself you can’t? Believe, because you have the vision. It’s as if you can feel it every time you close your eyes, but tell yourself you can’t because of perspectives of others. What could life be like if you didn’t stop searching until you got the answer you wanted, found the solution or discovered something new?


By: , Bending Perceptions, Inspiring Change
cam@camcalkoen.com

Issue 96 March 2019