[caption id="attachment_1518" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The view from Junipero and Ocean. This road leads to the parking lot and is what we skated down on Friday night"][/caption]Friday night I went roller skating with a group of people in Long Beach. It's all part of a monthly roll-out lead by Estro Jen, owner of Moxi Skates and founder of the upcoming Long Beach Roller Derby league. The evening began with congregating at the Moxi Skate shop for a short briefing on the route we would take. One of our first challenges would be to skate down the fairly steep hill at Junipero and Ocean Blvd that leads down to the bike path. I skated the hill once before and I knew from experience that taking this hill means leaving fear behind. Once you get near the bottom you build up some serious momentum and any attempts at stopping will probably make it more likely for you to tumble and fall than if you just stay low and go for it. So, stay low and go for it I did. See video here. What waited at the bottom of the hill was a car with it's lights on, ready to drive up the hill and a sand-covered asphalt parking lot. I wasn't prepared for either of these things but I realized I had no choice but to roll with what was and hope for the best. I curved to the right, zooming past the car and taking a slightly bumpy, skiddy ride on the sandy asphalt. I stayed low and steady and slowed to a gentle roll without incident. Once I realized I had made it down the hill safely, I was exhilirated. My heart was racing in a "hell yeah!" kind of way. The entire experience reinforced the lesson I can never get enough of which is, the mind doesn't always tell the truth and listening to thoughts of limitation is crippling. On my way down the hill there were those familiar thoughts, "I'm too old" and "what if I eat it in front of everyone?" I dismissed each of them quickly. The truth is, age had absolutely nothing to do with skating down the hill. It's not like I needed the endurance of a 20 year old, all I was doing was letting gravity take over. I was there with a pack of 10 or so people. Some men, some women, all of various heights and weights. If they could do it, there is absolutely no reason I why I couldn't do it also. If, by chance I did wipe out in front of everyone, who cares? I didn't have time to entertain the thought of eating the pavement because giving that thought power would only increase my chances of crashing. If I had a choice between making it down the hill without a scratch or wiping out, I'd choose the scratch-less version. That's what I gave my attention to. For me, all this is simply an analogy for how I want to live my life. Whether it's skating down a hill, delivering a public speech or teaching a class I want to be fully present and fearless. That's the way to truly live life versus being a spectator of it. In my opinion life is too short and precious for me to live in a mental prision of limitation and fear.

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For help overcoming fear and breaking out of mental prison, get the book From Sabotage to Success.

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If you're interested in skating, reffing, cheering or just want info regarding the Long Beach Roller Derby league , e-mail moxiskates [at] gmail.com