Uncovering the Life of Your Dreams

27

Weeks passed and that dream still haunted me. The twins were right; I wasn't ready to deal with the enormity of that childhood memory. But perhaps I was ready to deal with a less intense but nagging current issue. I left the office early after changing into the running clothes I kept in my bottom drawer and took a jog over to a local bike shop. After being wowed by the advances in bicycle technology since I'd last rode one as a child, I left the store with a brand new Trek and as cool of a helmet as I could find.

“It's like riding a bike” is a very true expression. Even though I was quite scared to ride a bike again, after only a few minutes on it, I was surprisingly comfortable and looking forward to what I had planned for the rest of the afternoon.

I hoped that Greg would be very impressed with the effort I made to meet him where he was at, in his world. Greg was very sharp, so I believed that once he saw my bike, he'd recognize my intention and forget about any of the challenges or differences between us.

As I peddled my way home, I realized that I'd never explained to Greg how my own insecurities and self-doubts prevented me from taking the initiative socially or engaging in deep conversations with others. Instead, I just let him make a bunch of assumptions about me, one of which was that I didn't care enough about being his friend. When I really thought about it, I had to admit to myself that I'd really never let anyone, not any girlfriends and not even Larry, get close ...