Riding the Bicycle

Rishabh had given his name for the debate competition and was still contemplating if this was the right decision.

He would have never done this, but his childhood friend Akshit talked him into this.

Akshit knew Rishabh had all the skillsets required to participate and win the debate competition; it was just Rishabh had to push the boundaries of limitation he had set for himself and know the power of focus

 When Akshit went to meet Rishabh to help him to prepare for the debate competition, he said, I know you have your concerns regarding stage fear, but my dear friend, let me share with you something that my father used to always share with me.

Days are going to be tough and challenge you at many levels, But what stays and empowers you to sail through is the power of positivity, if you let it bloom.

It is not going to be easy, being persistent would be the key. And once you experience the magical powers of it, you hold on to it tightly to avoid it slipping away from you.

 Just surround yourself with positivity, allow it to bloom and touch your life. And what you'll witness is how it magically turns everything around you. Nothing can defeat a positive mind, this can enlighten the darkest tunnel of your life.

Rishabh was really annoyed with Akshit, and well what he said was true, yet he was not sure, how this positivity is going to help him to win this debate competition.

He said, Akshit, Did you think what If I make a complete fool out of myself in front of the entire school, what If I forget the content I'll be the laughing stock of the town. It was so easy for you to nominate my name. Thanks to you, I can't even withdraw my name. What was even I thinking when I agreed to your stupid idea.

You have no idea how challenging is this for me? Have you forgotten what happened the last time when I participated in the debate competition?

Akshit knew Rishabh is going to bring this and well he was prepared for it.

He smiled and said, My dear friend, I know you much better than you do yourself. We have been childhood friends, I know all about your strengths and weakness. Yes, I remember that what happened the last time when you participated in the debate competition.

But you can't let that one incident define yourself?

That was the Past and what you have right now in hand is the Present, to create a better future.

Just because last time was a disaster, doesn't mean that you should just stop following it, because of "Fear".

Don't let "Fear" ruin your Present and Future.

The Past cannot be changed But you can definitely change your Future

You just can't sit & cry for your failures in the past Instead, remember the lessons it gifted you forever

Life gives you interesting lessons to learn in various forms, Only you need to have acceptance for that learning.

Don't be scared to fail; don’t be afraid to fall just continue on that unexplored road of success.

You may stumble down in the start, but trust yourself that you don’t belong to that fall for long

Life is meant to enjoy every bit of it, not only the success but embrace your failures too, they not only give you better lessons than success but in the process, they make you much stronger than you can ever imagine.

So gear up & conquer all your fears, don’t let the ghost of the past failure dominate you

Give yourself one more chance; trust yourself more than you trust your fears

Someone right said the past cannot be changed

The future is yet in your power.

Rishabh was carefully listening to all this, he smiled and said,' Friend", that was some powerful message on facing the fears, but guess what these are having no effect on me.

I feel I did commit a big mistake of agreeing to nominate my name for the debate competition!!

And anyway, I don't have any chance of even surviving in the debate battle. You know Ronit has submitted his name and the well whole school knows he'll win it and everyone in the school might have a good laugh at me.

Akshit knew Rishabh was going the wrong track, but he was too determined to show him something, he was not seeing clearly.

He said, Rishabh, let me tell you something. You are Participating in this debate competition only for yourself. Not for others. You don't need to prove it to anyone else.

You are doing this for "Yourself" and that's the only person who should matter to You.

You are one of the tough guys with never give up attitude and I just can't stand by the idea of you giving up on yourself.

Let me jog some memories for you.

Tell, do you remember our bike ride sessions as kids?

Rishabh smiled and said, 'Yes", How can I forget. It took so much time for you to learn to balance and ride the bike.

Akshit said, Yes, and I was almost about to give up on that if it was not you who pushed to learn it.

It was "You" who taught me, don't focus on the bruise, instead, focus on the progress you are making it.No matter, how slow the progress is, it's still progress.

You told me to imagine, how fun it would be when we could go for riding sessions together, how much fun it would be.

You do remember, you didn't let me give up on the riding session, no matter how difficult it seemed so.

Because in the end, when you get the results, all efforts are worth it.

I do remember, even you took my riding sessions and because of me, you got so many bruises.

Yet, you never gave up on me!!

Why tell me?

Rishabh said "Because I knew you had it in you, it was just your Fear that was stopping you. You were not focusing on your "Strengths", instead, you were focusing on your 'Weakness"

Akshit smiled and said, "Yes, dear friend".That's exactly what I want you to understand. You remember you told me you read a powerful quote in one of the bookmarks

Focus on your Strengths, Not your Weaknesses.

Focus on your Powers, Not Your Problems.

These two sentences have actually transformed my life. You know whenever I am in a difficult situation, I just close my eyes and remember this and I don't know if this works like a magic but I can now sail through anything.

Thanks to you, this learning played an important lesson for me, not only in learning to ride the bike but to face any challenges life throws at me.

I owe this to you buddy!!

So I can't ride the bike anymore. Even being in the wheelchair has not changed my attitude, instead, it had just made me stronger and made me realise that don't let "Fear" stop you from chasing what you deserve.

And my friend, I don't want you to commit the same mistake!!

Rishabh was in tears, he hugged Akshit. It was a difficult topic to speak on, yet here his friend was talking about something that was the most difficult chapter of his life.

It was a few years back when Akshit and his family was coming back from a wedding when their car met with an accident.

Akshit not only lost his parents but the accident did some great damage to his legs and as a result, he was in a wheelchair. Even the doctors were not sure how long he is going to be in the wheelchair.

Now Akshit was living with his aunt and uncle, who took care of him.

How could someone be so strong and care for another, when Life has been so difficult for him to survive

But one thing was true about Akshit, he was a strong-headed person and he loved Rishabh with his full heart.

And that was the reason, he was here to help Rishabh to focus on what was important to him, rather than Fear.

He said, Akshit, You know I am truly blessed to have you in my life. Thank you for reminding me of something so important.

I'll not only participate in the debate but shall also win it.

The only question is I don't know how to do it!!

Akshit was happy to hear that from him and said, "I am so proud of you".Your biggest strength is your Power of Knowledge, and to address your Stage fear, I have some techniques and, with some practise sessions, we'll take care of it.

I want you to enjoy this entire journey and, something tells me this is going to be a turning point in your life.

Few years down the line

That indeed turned out to be a turning point in my life and credit goes to my friend Akshit for introducing me to Power of focus, Rishabh said as he received the award for the Best Motivational Speaker.