Without leaps of imagination or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all is a form of planning. – Gloria Steinem

In the face of stress, we’re often advised to “think positively!” I don’t know about you, but when I feel like I’m swimming in stress, a positive attitude can be hard to muster. Life can wrestle with you. It can take away your patience for compromise, it can wear away your ability to keep your life on hold — until finally, you no longer have the strength to hold yourself back. You let go, and you find yourself flying to where your dreams want to take you.

When I shared my dream to Ride Across America and live without limits, I was flooded with inspiring stories of women cutting to the truth of who they are, and living on the edge. Listen to one of the emails I received from Joan, a fan in San Antonio, TX:

My husband and I recently became co-owners of Gotta Ride Bikes in San Antonio, TX. Two years ago, faced with significant weight gain and health issues creeping up, we worked together to lose over 150 pounds! My husband, Brian, as a result, was able to get off of his high blood pressure and cholesterol medications. Once we had lost enough weight to make more adventurous exercise possible, Brian, returned to his life long love of bicycling. As a teenager, he rode competitively. We even met in a bike store! Well, when we realized the great cardio and calorie burn with cycling, we started riding our neighborhood. I rode a heavy, commuter style bike that was years old. As we logged more and more miles, Brian encouraged me to trade in that flat bar bike for a road bike. We started visiting stores from San Antonio to Austin but couldn’t find anyone who would take me seriously. “You don’t have a strong enough core” was only one of the many negative comments I faced. Eventually, we found a small shop owner who believed in me and I bought a bike! I used to think that I’d never ride 20 miles in a day and now, that’s just a good warm up ride!

Living in San Antonio, we know first hand about obesity and diabetes. San Antonio is also home to a large population of veterans, many disabled. The need for a specialized, heartfelt approach to finding a way to encourage our community is strong. After more than a year of diet and exercise, we are incredibly sympathetic to the folks we meet on the trails as they work toward losing weight, gaining strength and getting healthy. That was, in part, what led to us to buy into Gotta Ride Bikes. We wanted to encourage people who didn’t think they could ride to realize that despite weight or age or disability or even just a lack of confidence, there are options and it is possible! This is why we started our Ride A Mile program! By transporting bikes to the local parks, we help folks realize that they CAN ride a bike. We provide the bikes and helmets, information, encouragement and water. At the end of their experience, we give the participants a water bottle that says “I Rode ___ Miles.” We’ve had folks sure they can’t ride, begin by just sitting on a bike to build confidence and we’ve had others ride up to 8 miles!

Because we have before and after photos that show our customers where we started, folks have been receptive to our message that Moving is the key to Losing! It’s been a great experience!

Just like Joan experienced, the turbulence of the trial will pass. Meanwhile, let the journey be an adventure. Be grateful for the uncertainty you feel, for uncertainty is just another name for possibility. To help let go into uncertainty, try the 6-min standing balance video above!