It's like learning to ride a bicycle
Monday, October 27, 2008 at 11:25 PM |  


Siti Nurul Nadia

Ainul Sariyah with Bear Bear

A couple of months back, I was teaching Ainul how to ride a bicycle. What I witnessed was something short of a miracle. She was able to ride within minutes without training wheels albeit a little wobbly. She was able to master riding in a straight line by the end of that first session. Mastering to turn with the bicycle required her another session before she was comfortable in doing so.

I started to delve on why Ainul was able to learn how to ride so fast. I attribute why it was so to a couple of things. Firstly she's already in K2 when someone (me) finally bothered to teach her how to ride the bicycle. It's considerably older than other kids learning how to cycle out there. A more important factor is probably because she already understands the concept of balance. She's already a pro on her blue kick scooter prior to this. It's applying the same concept on a different tool.

At that point in time, I was just beginning to force myself to be proficient with my left hand. I was able to relate my situation to this incident.

"Maybe it won't take another 20 years to learn writing with my other hand."
"It's just switching tools, it's not like I have to re-learn the artistic skills. I just need to learn how to control it."

And I said thank you to Allah for that little motivation in my journey towards ambidexterity.

Another motivation came in a form of an obvious question by a colleague, "Kalau kau hari-hari draw, ko nyer drawing makin bagus. Betul eh?" He asked that question because he has a younger brother who became obsessed of drawing quite recently.

A part of me wanted to reply, "Isn't that obvious. Of course lar."
I managed to give a nice reply, "Betul ar."

Moments later I felt that question was directed more towards me. If I want to become better with my left hand I just need to practise continuosly.... obvious kan. My heart said my thanks again.

With these two micro-epiphanies, the choice was still left for me to make. Continue with the struggle or concede defeat to the challenge. If I choose the latter, I remind myself that I will be no better than the musyriks who turn their backs from the Truth even after witnessing it with their own eyes.

Once I mastered my left hand, it'll be like riding a bicycle. I won't forget how to do so. My journey continues.
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