As a Type A perfectionist, it’s difficult for me to accept I’m not going to get something new right the first time I try it. Four years ago, I was faced with that challenge, learning how to ride a motorcycle. In a parking lot in Manassas, VA, I sat on a Honda Rebel 250 cc, attempting to find the sweet spot with the clutch to have it propel me just enough to walk the bike across the lot while maintaining a straight line. Unlike the rest of my class however, the bike pull to the left after each time I corrected my course.
I became frustrated and began to doubt whether I would be able to do this. But during the break, while staring at myself in the bathroom mirror, I repeated, “You can do this. You can do this. You can do this.” And with a renewed spirit, I returned to the bike, and successfully found the sweet spot while maintaining my course. In fact, I passed the course and to this day, it’s one of my favorite weekends.
Rowing has presented a set of new challenges that again, this Type A perfectionist is struggling to accept I’m not going to get it right off the bat. It’s going to take practice.
Last night, I completed DC Strokes Learn to Row program, but it didn’t come without scars. This past week alone, I managed to severely bruise if not break my pinky toe by rolling a boat lift over my foot, walked head first into the stern of the boat and am sporting a beautiful knot on the side of my head, not to mention last night, while falling out of time with the other seven rowers in the boat, got kidney checked not once but twice by the rower behind me. Describing these injuries to my mother last night, who I’m sure also questions whether it’s smart I ride a motorcycle given my accident proneness, questioned whether rowing was the sport for me. But I assured her I was fine and the wounds would heal. Which for the sake of my kidneys, I hope is soon.
As I drove home, I realized I needed another personal coaching session, ten minutes in front of the mirror to remind myself I could do this, too. Like learning to ride the motorcycle, it was going to take time, dedication, focus, and practice. Especially focus if I want to stop walking head first into the stern of boats.
After I’d analysed the newly acquired bruises after I got home, I stared at myself in the mirror. And though I felt silly, I assured myself learning to row was something I could do.
It’s easy to get frustrated when confronted with a new task, to bow out because you believe you don’t have enough skill, talent, or experience, but all of that comes with time. It will come with time for me as long as I continue to work at it.
Like any athlete, or at least the athletes I know or grew up with, I wear my bruises as a badge of honor. They’re injuries from “battle” even if in this case it’s an internal battle with my will. Maybe even a small battle with my mother to prove to her I can do this. Don’t get me wrong, she supports me; she just worries about my safety.
Rowing is a sport I’ve come to love. And as I transition from a coxswain to a rower, I need to remember that while I have the knowledge of a coxswain, I don’t yet have the skills or even knowledge of  a rower. Not that some of the knowledge isn’t transferable, but I need to remind myself that I am at square one. Well, maybe square three since I just completed learn to row, and while I’m still new, I’m not a landlubber.
My Type A perfectionist is something I need to put on the back burner just slightly. While it will be an asset for me as I continue to hone my rowing skills, the part that says it needs to be perfect now is not. Therefore, the mantra I’m turning up the volume on in my head is, “Yes I can.”
  http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/comments/trueconfessionsofafemalemotorcyclist.wordpress.com/1418/

Source