Hard things made easy – like learning off-road riding in Mexico’s Sierra Gorda.

I didn’t always do hard things. As someone with anxiety, my excessive worry about what my performance says about my place in the world combined with the impossible standards I set for myself used to keep me from even starting things I thought might be hard. 

This behaviour came to an end when I met my now-husband, Dustin. In the early stages of dating, Dustin asked me to run with him. I declined, simply stating, “I can’t run.” I had tried running before: many of my friends ran and would encourage me to join. It was awful. 

Unlike my gazelle-legged friends, my limbs were uncoordinated and heavy. To me, my inability to run was just a simple fact. In response to my statement on my inability to run, Dustin responded, “It’s all in your head. You need to learn to be okay with being uncomfortable. The only way you’re going to learn to run is by running.” 

Learning to be okay with being uncomfortable — feeling awkward, enduring embarrassment and sometimes pain — has changed my life. The thing about doing hard things is that they are only hard things until they are not. Case in point: I now regularly run half-marathons.

YOU HAVE TO START SOMEWHERE

Learning to ride a motorcycle was a hard thing for me. I started riding three years ago, at the age of 42, and there was a lot for my adult brain to master: two hands, two brakes, a clutch (I didn’t know how to drive stick), speed, and navigating other vehicles on the road. 

In the beginning, I messed up all the time. For example, on my first road ride, I stalled in the middle of a hill and couldn’t do a hill start. I constantly fumbled for the correct gear, causing the bike to lurch forward. I would drop the bike attempting U-turns. Everything that could go wrong went wrong for me. I was often scared and frustrated, and I didn’t think I would ever learn to ride; however, I kept showing up and I kept riding. 

I probably have the unique status of being the only person to cry multiple times during my motorcycle training course and still obtain a perfect score on the MSA test. Since then, I have ridden my BMW G650 GS 21,000 kilometres across Canada from my home in British Columbia and back; completed several long road-trips in the U.S.; and, most recently, in November, spent 10 days on a motorcycle riding tour through Mexico’s Oaxaca state. Riding a motorcycle is no longer a hard thing. 

Just like learning to run, Dustin was the impetus for me learning to ride a motorcycle. Dustin is an…