Learning to leave the safety of your compound

There is a fear instilled within me to try new things in life. Be safe and don’t take risks. Its hammered into my psyche from multiple directions. When we don’t do and try new things, yes we are safe but we also miss out on the pure enjoyment and pleasure that comes with mastering something new. I felt like this while recently learning to ride a scooter in Ubud, Bali. I was scared and hesitated, even as the Villa’s staff taught me and I rode up and down the driveway in the compound, I had my doubts and I could see in in the staffs eyes, so did they (if they could speak English they probably would have tried to convince me to walk and take taxis) but I stuck to it, popped on a helmet, gathered up some courage and off I went  to my first destination, the Yoga Barn for a Tibetan Bowl Meditation class. 

I think its important to share that before I went out, I went back to my room to Youtube how to ride a scooter. I checked out a few videos and found myself feeling more nervous and scared. In my experience when trying something new its always worked best to just do it. Ignorance truly is bliss. The more information you intake the harder it is to proceed because we begin rationalizing and getting into our own heads. I turned it off, said fuck it and went back out.  As I am writing to you from Toronto, I would like to share that I have returned in one piece. By the end of my trip I was zipping around like a pro and having so much fun! It was pure joy. To think that I could have gone an entirely other direction and missed out on this joyful experience and feeling of freedom. 

I thought to myself, where else in my life am I hesitating to try something new for the fear of falling and getting hurt? What areas in my life have I been practicing within the safety of my compound yet still hesitant to venture out? 

Then it came to me. I have posting block! See, I have been writing a lot more then I have been sharing. Every now and then I have ventured out, sharing a post sporadically, but I have for the most part been keeping my words to myself. That fear of judgment, of failing and the endless list of ‘what ifs’ hold me back. 

It’s like how I was learning to ride a scooter on the driveway. I could have decided to never leave the compound but there would have been so many beautiful experiences that I would have missed out on. So, here I am making a commitment to myself to venture out of the compound with my writing, trusting that this too will expand my internal and external Self and be filled with beautiful experiences. 

Where in your life have you been practicing within your own compound but fear and hesitate to get yourself on to that road and give yourself the opportunity to feel joy, expand your internal and external Self and experience more beauty?