How to ride a bike is how to direct your life

Riding a bicycle, directing a life

As one of the best well as the most dangerous cyclist in my small village in Vietnam, I am honored to be here to share with u my experience of riding a bicycle.

7 years old,

1st time I learned how to ride a bicycle. My brother was going to take me to a football grass field in front of my house to teach me how to ride a bicycle.

I was so excited and immediately jumped on the bike, did not give my brother a chance to show me how to. I then hit a tree and fell off.

I got on the bike again, I felt down again. This time I hit a buffalo.

I got on the bike again, I felt down again, this time the wheels of the bicycle went over my brother’s feet.

I kept trying over and over again without asking my brother to show me how. I just did it without thinking.

My brother was smile at me wisely and said:

 “It is great that you take actions immediately, and never give up. But It would be even better if you can learn how to do it first, then you will not get hurt that much”

Learning to ride a bike, I learned never to give up, learned how to listen to experienced people, not to be hurry, to be patient.

13 years old

I was called an expert cyclist as well as the most dangerous bicycle driver. I would never hesitate to step on the feet of anyone, motorbike drivers or walking people. I would never hesitate to cross street, the streets in Vietnam you may know how crazy they are. I would never hesitate to race with motorbike driver to get there first. My parents always never stopped reminding me to be more careful to not get hurt and to not make someone get hurt.

One day, I and 4 other friends of mine were going to school which is 6km from my house. My friends were as dangerous cyclists as myself.  We, 5 people, made 5 lines on a small street, on the high way. I was usually in the middle of the road. We laughed, shouted, talked while cycling.

Suddenly, I felt stuck, my friends gone, only me and my bicycle. It was so dark, the road became smaller, I was in the middle of 2 long trucks. The two trucks were so long that I did not know whether I should stop or try to go faster. They were moving so if I stopped the car behind might hit me, I could not race with their speed though. I tried to calm down, kept a slow speed so I would not fall down.

After 5 minutes, I saw the sun again. My friends stopped far away, closed their eyes prayed for me. I shouted “I don’t die that easy, I am still alive”

Riding a bicycle, I learned how to be careful, to be cautious, calm down in dangerous situation. More importantly, to not break some rules that put my life on fire.

And now 

I am still cycling as much as I can whenever I go.

I am still learning to be a great driver on the long-journey in life to reach to a better destination every day.

I look back at cycling experience and I can see it says a lot about how I direct my life. I have been careless. I have loved breaking the rules even though sometimes it backfires. But I have learned how to never give up, how to deal with dangerous situations. Most importantly, I have learned how to take responsibility for my life, find my true self, stay on track, stay focused and get things done.

It is time for us to sit down, take a deep breath and reflect on how we direct our lives. Learn from our past, stay focused, live with our true self, and keep moving forward and we have no other choice but to reach our destinations.

I hope by recalling my cycling experience, I get you ready for the journey tomorrow.