Bike Day: “Leaning in”


In the past week, Group 131 has been working diligently under the theme “you can do hard things.” It seems like an obvious statement at first, but once you repeat it in your head when you’ve been put to the test, it energizes you. I want to explain how it helped me today.

Most people know that I’ve never been a strong biker. I start off alright, but if I hit an obstacle or an unexpected bump I get what some refer to as “muppet arms,” flail about, and crash to the ground. So today, when we were expected to bike 10 kilometers in Don Chedi, our new home in 3 days, I was nervous.

The morning started out alright, I got my bike (which is beautiful!), adjusted the seat, and did some practice loops in the driveway with my team. I was starting to relax when I saw the person in front of me had stopped, and I plowed into them, causing me to fall off my bike. I was horrified, but got up and made jokes so people wouldn’t worry. My hands were all cut up. I thought “God if I can’t do this how am I gonna get on the road?”

I started doubting myself. I confided that in a few fellow trainees (one of them is in the picture above!) and they said to me “It’s alright Emily. You can do hard things.”

The phrase didn’t hold meaning for me until that moment. Peace Corps is about many things, but probably the biggest thing is what I call “leaning in” to your challenges. Instead of backing away from something you think you can’t do, confront it, practice it, do it, until it’s not scary anymore. So I decided that if I was going to stay here, I had to get on that bike and go.

I finished the 10k with only minor potential muppet arm moments. On our lunch break, I went out and biked again, and even had a minor confrontation with a dog that I managed to handle. I leaned into my fear, and was successful.

So I hope the takeaway from this post is that challenges will arise every day, and you have the choice of avoiding them or accepting them. I don’t always choose to accept challenges, but I am so, so grateful to myself for doing so today.

Training will continue to get difficult. I will have moments where I fall. But I can do hard things.

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