This post is nothing related to children’s books or early education. Its about life in general, about taking risks, building self-confidence and overcoming your fears. I guess my personal stories have intruded into the house of tales!
Last week I sold my car to the only serious, interested buyer who happened to be in Alabama. I live in Atlanta, so we decided to meet mid way. I tried to look for local buyers as I was hassled by this idea of an out-of-town transaction, but after a couple of no-shows I decided to give the AL party a shot.
This buyer had never seen the car and never had it checked from a mechanic, but assured me that she’ll buy the car when we meet. She even said she’ll reimburse me for gas if she didn’t buy it. Obviously this sounded really absurd. Why is she so interested in the car? Can’t she find anything else? Can’t I find anyone else local to ATL? I had my son’s 4th birthday the morning of the planned transaction and the thought of driving two cranky and tired kids some 3 hours just to taxi me around was a no-go with my husband.
So it was my decision, to go or not to go. After going back and forth several times, we agreed on a cash transaction. If I sold my car, I must be crazy thinking about walking around with all that cash on me, right? I had butterflies in my stomach and couldn’t sleep the night before. A lot went through my mind. How will I return if I sell the car? What if the person is armed? What if I was mugged on the way? Or the worst – what if I was shot dead?
I decided to go, after all, if I did this successfully, I was done. No more thinking about it and I could happily move on. I got there, the party was legit, they loved the car and everything went perfectly. Thank God that He didn’t ruin my faith in people, because I trusted a complete stranger. I then rode an airport shuttle from somewhere near the AL border and was picked up in ATL. My car was gone, and I felt very, very accomplished.
Three days back I did a ropes course where I had to walk on a cable some 50 feet off the ground. Scared as hell, drenched in sweat, my feet and hands trembling with fear, my first attempt was a failure. I stood around for quite some time overcoming my fear. I decided to give this another shot, did another course successfully and had the time of my life ziplining back to ground.
Overcoming fear and building self-confidence is sometimes all that you need to accomplish something. Analyze (not over analyze) the probabilities of events and weigh the pros and cons of your actions. In my car sale, the probability of being mugged was 1%. In the ropes course, the probability of the harness failing and me crashing to the ground was 0.01%. Just getting over the exaggerated “what ifs” in your head is all it takes to get ahead.
Have a blessed week and hope you accomplish something this week!
-Niv