How I Conquered an 'Embarrassing' Fear

During my first year in college, I longed to ride a scooter.

But the problem was I didn’t know how to ride one, and as embarrassing as this is to admit, I was even scared.

Now I know you may be thinking, what’s so scary about riding a scooter?

You see, my mother has always been terrified at the thought of me riding any two-wheelers. Fear, as you know, can be contagious, so a good measure of this fear got transmitted to me.

But that wasn’t the only reason I was fearful about riding a scooter.

I had driven a scooter for the first time when I was in the 12th standard (Senior Year). I was riding my friend’s scooter quite decently when I tried to take a U-turn, and I fell down along with the scooter and bruised my leg. (Of course, I never mentioned a word about this incident to my mother)

Anyway, once I was in college, I decided to try again. Late one night on an empty street, I rode a scooter again for the first time since falling down.

But this time, I found it even more difficult and struggled to manage the weight of the scooter and my friend who was sitting behind me. I kept losing balance, and it seemed as if I would fall at any moment.

Many of my friends would often tell me that there is nothing to it, if you know how to ride a cycle you can easily learn how to ride a scooter.

Yet there would be moments when I wondered if I was doomed when it came to riding a scooter properly. Other people could do it, but not me. Perhaps riding a scooter simply wasn’t part of my destiny, I’d think to myself.

I was desperate to learn how to ride a scooter. It would make getting around Pune so much easier and convenient, and it would allow me to explore the city to my heart’s content.

Slowly, over time, with the help of a couple of my friends, I was finally able to overcome my fear and learn how to ride one.

Now I know my story of learning to ride a scooter isn't a wildly inspiring tale. But I share it here because perhaps you, like me, may believe that doing certain things that you desperately desire is not part of your destiny.

Perhaps you want to be skilled at making speeches in public, be good at socialising or even learn to be vulnerable and express your innermost feelings to people, but your fears may convince you that these things are not possible for you.

When we have a fear of something, our mind comes up with all sorts of crazy and strange reasons to prevent us from facing our fears.

But don’t let the fears of your mind stop you from pursuing the dreams of your heart.

Like in my case, you don’t need to conquer your fear swiftly in a single day, sometimes repeatedly making small efforts over a period of time is all that’s required to conquer fear.

Exploring the beautiful town of Hampi on the scooter

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