My child is afraid of the monkey bars. As she hangs from the firm metal, she doubts that she can support herself. The universe, often in the form of my loving hands, is always ready to catch her, yet she falters.
Fear is something that often holds us back. We become afraid of our own shortcomings, and convince ourselves that some things are not worth attempting.
Despite her desire to swing across, my young child is not yet ready to jump off. She doesn’t fully trust herself yet.
Perhaps my own fears have seeped into her. She is my oldest, meaning I have to work to resist putting all my hopes and fears onto her. I wish I could protect her from every type of pain, however, sometimes the pain of life is inevitable.
I must teach her how to deal with it, how to overcome the fear of failure and do things anyways.
I don’t worry about her resistance to practicing something new. There are other things for her to succeed at today, just as there are many areas to explore at the playground. Perhaps she doesn’t need to face that fear right now, and instead can learn to challenge herself in other ways.
Perhaps someday she will no longer desire crossing those intimidating bars. What scares us today might feel irrelevant tomorrow, and this is alright.
We are allowed to change and grow, in fact, it’s expected of us.
So for now I will continue to encourage her to face those fears. Push herself a little more and overcome any doubts of her abilities.
I know what she is capable of, and I trust that in time she will know it too.
I’m confident my child will learn to swing through the air, believing that her own hands will catch her. Failing that, the Universe, or her mother, will always be there ready to ease her fall.