Lesson #11: Know Yourself

Note: If you’d like to see all the lessons, click on the category: Making Big Things Happen

It’s hard to accomplish your dream if you don’t have a good sense of your strengths and weaknesses.  What I know after a year of getting ready to go on this bike ride is that I am stronger than I thought!  But I also realize that I am no Tillie.  I am a story writer and teller, not an astonishing athlete.  You don’t have to be a super athlete to ride your bike to Chicago, but you do have to be in a certain kind of shape. I’ve come to accept that I don’t have as much control over that as I’d like to.  I’d like to be able to say for sure I will make it on ‘my own two wheels,’ but I have come to accept that getting there is more important than getting there by bike.

My stubbornness in insisting I do this all on my bike has caused me a lot of stress.  I have to accept that I like to have more control than a project like this is going to allow me.  And I have to learn to let go a little.  If I achieve my end goal—making a book come alive for you—then I will be content, whether I ride the whole ride or not.

I may look like Tillie, but I'll never ride like her. There is only one Tillie!