My husband and I own a 750cc motor bike which we ride when we are in New Hampshire – on quiet scenic back roads and sometimes on slightly more busy roads but not highways and not at great speed – not with me on the back anyway!
Last year on vacation I was fine on the back… doing the ‘leaning thing’ by looking over his one shoulder or the other depending on which way we were turning.
This year for some reason I was terrified that if I leaned even slightly we would veer too far over and we would fall over and crash and die or be horribly wounded or crippled or… well.. you get the picture I am sure!
This meant that I sat rigid on the back – not good for the poor driver who could feel my lack of calmness.
I told my husband how I felt and asked him if he could drive a bit more slowly and not take the bends as fast. He said he was driving at the slowest safe speeds and understood how I felt but maybe I should tap on it!
Ha ha… I did not want to tap on this fear as I thought it was a good fear to have.. I did not want to drive fast. But I did think about relaxing and doing what I did last year which was fine.
The next time we went out on the bike it was for a full day ride (as in eight or nine hours out on the bike!) so I had to do something. Telling myself to relax wasn’t cutting it at all.
So… I decided, while clinging on to the bike in white knuckled fear, to try some tapping. Obviously I couldn’t actually tap – biking gloves and a helmet were the physical reasons as well as not wanting to fall off the bike while tapping!
What to do? Virtual tapping!
I sat on the back of the bike and visualised everything. Set up statement… Even though I am terrified to lean as I am sure we will crash… I know my husband will not jeopardise either of us so I am working through this right now! Even though I am really frustrated at myself for feeling this way I am working through this right now. Even though there is no logical or rational reason for me to feel this way I do feel terrified and I am working through this right now.
Then I visualised myself tapping all the points for the reminder phrases. This feeling of terror. Feeling stupid as I know this is not rational. Husband loves me – he doesn’t want to crash. I know he is a safe and competent driver. I need to let this fear go now. It is safe and easy for me to let this fear go right now. I safely and easily let this fear go right now (top of the head).
I sat there thinking well.. let’s see how it goes when the next bend arrives. I was sure I would need to do more as this was a BIG fear.
Along came a corner.. I waited…. nothing! No fear at all. I just relaxed into the corner as I used to do. Bring on another corner!! This was not difficult as we were on very winding quiet roads. I got ready to tense up… nothing. Hmmm… can it really be this easy?
I have to say yes it was – as for the rest of the nine hour trip I thoroughly enjoyed myself, bends and all. We had frequent breaks to look over scenic views and husband said he could tell I was feeling different as I was moving with the bike which helped his driving a lot.
Three cheers and more for tapping!!
You must log in to post a comment.