Saddle Up!

You know the old saying about failure - when you fall off a horse, the best thing you can do is to get right back on? Depending on how you apply this rule, there will be two schools of thought. One requires reflection before you plonk yourself onto the saddle again, the other doesn't.

Everyone will have an opinion on which school of thought to apply, and each of us has a preference, depending on how ready we think we are to get back on that horse. It is, of course, a personal preference, one that we can only determine if we are immersed in the situation at hand.

But after watching those around me fall off and get back on again (or not), I have some suggestions of clauses to this rule:

1) Reflect long enough to learn a lesson or two. Look to yourself for answers first. Stop when you see negativity peeking through. Cynicism is rarely a friend. There are many things that darkens your heart, and few that can ease its burden. The least you can do is keep the darkness at bay.

2) Whatever it takes, get on that horse again. People may argue that you need time to heal, but too much time makes you forget why you liked riding in the first place. You stop riding, you lose a bit of what you once were. Maybe it's a good thing, but most of the time, it's not.

Personally, I wouldn't hesitate to climb back on a horse (although I really wouldn't know considering the times I've ridden, the horses were so slow I'd have to jump off myself to fall off!). But I do recognise that riding a horse and driving a car are two different things altogether, and what may be easy in one situation may be nerve-wrecking in another.