yes to craziness.

Even at the last moment, while tying my shoelaces, I was still wondering why I even said “yes” to this craziness – this craziness of learning how to ice skate. I would eventually see that embracing the new and unfamiliar is exactly what I need.

You see, I have a fear of falling. It’s not the physical pain that scares me but the idea of people laughing at me. But that day, I decided to go with the flow with hopes of overcoming my fear.

As I write this, I am feeling the pain of my muscles and my feet. Along with it are the lessons I learned:

Lesson #1: Let go and you enjoy life to the fullest.

Me not letting go of the railings at the skating rink, is like a ship in a harbor. The ship is safe but it’s not doing what it’s meant to do. This reminds me of saying “yes” to go on mission in a country I didn’t know much about. I could have easily said “no”, stayed in the Philippines and enjoyed my life there. But, boy, am I glad I said “yes”. It was a simple decision that led me to the greatest ride of my life, a journey into and with God’s unfathomable grace.

Lesson #2: Don’t rush things.

I always rush things. Patience does not come naturally to me. So when somebody advised me saying, “Patience is a virtue”, I asked, “Whatever happened to ‘time is gold’?”

While it is important to do the mission with urgency, we also need to loosen up a bit, enjoy and learn the lesson of each moment. As Paulo Coelho says, “Direction is more important than speed”.

Lesson #3: Falling teaches you to be better next time.

There’s nothing degrading about falling, not standing up and failing to learn from every fall is. So stand up, learn from it and move on. About my fear of falling, I also realized that there’s nothing really wrong with being laughed at. Every time I lost my balance, it always made the YFCs laugh. Though at first I felt embarrassed, the joy of seeing others happy because of me was just addicting. I couldn’t help it, so I played along. It made my skating experience better; it changed my life for the best.

So, if God gives you an opportunity to be with Him, drop everything you’ve got. Let go. Learn from your mistakes. Be the best that you can be and enjoy!


Live, laugh and love out loud!