If you follow me on Instagram you may have noticed a hospital run on my stories over the weekend.
You would also know that our son, Luan (13), is pretty crazy about skateboarding. He just started a series of training lessons at an indoor skatepark at about a 35-minute drive from our house.
If you’re not from the Netherlands you have to understand that a 35-minute drive is far in this tiny country. That shows you the level of commitment from both Luan and his parents.
Saturday afternoon I received a call. Bit of a timid voice. Instantly I knew something happened.
“What’s up?”
“My ankle. There’s some really kind people who helped me. Someone put me on the couch, gave me ice to put on it, but they’re recommending I have it checked to see if it’s not broken.”
We spent the rest of our Saturday evening at the ER of the hospital in Arnhem. It’s not broken, but it looks like it will need some time.
Here’s the best part.
I wasn’t there when it happened, and Luan had to call me to come take him to the hospital. When I walked in he first told me about the ankle. But then very quickly his face went from suffering to big smiles in an instant.
“You know what happened though?”
“What?”
“Earlier today I landed my first kickflip off a kicker!” If you don’t know what any of that means, trust me – it’s a sick trick. And it was CLEAN!
So a few days later we ended up talking about risk and reward.
Some parents might challenge my parenting skills because we seem to be OK with certain risks that not every parent is happy about.
Four days later Luan is still on the couch, still in a lot of pain each time he moves his leg.
I asked him, if you consider the reward of landing your first kickflip off the kicker, is it worth the risk of hurting your ankle this bad?
His face changed from pain into excitement in an instant again.
“Absolutely!”
It doesn’t stop there.
“Dad, do you know what I’m going to do when my ankle is all healed up again?” He hurt his ankle trying some type of slide or grind on some type of handrail, bar or ledge. “Land that downrail boardslide that I was trying to do when I hurt my ankle!”
That’s how character is built right there.
No victory without the sacrifice. No reward without the risk.
Think about it: what risk are you facing today, avoiding perhaps?
Don’t just face it. Embrace it.