Sunday Postcard #5

Sunday Postcard 5
Lotus fields, Siem Reap, May 2018

A couple weeks ago Eric and I joined a bike tour from our hostel to watch the sunset over lotus fields outside the city. I haven’t ridden a bike in six years and was wobbly and nervous. After the hour-long ride out, where I was solidly at the back of the pack, one of the tour leads asked if I’d ever ridden a bike before. It was embarrassing, but not as bad as the ride back when I catapulted myself into a ditch (I was fine, thank goodness). I’ve spent the time since then being thankful I wasn’t hurt and thinking about failing in public. Most often, my failures are private - if a pitch or application gets rejected, it’s between the editor or admissions officer and me. I don’t often have to be bad at something in front of someone else, much less a tour group or collection of kind bystanders watching me get pulled out of a mud puddle. Maybe it’s something I should try to do more, though probably not on a bike for a while.