I felt so awkward in school, too. Juggling and a handful of close friendships were all that I felt I had. Later, it was juggling and writing.

When I started writing, again, I felt very timid — like I was back in high school. But I came to find out that people respected my drive and ability to talk about writing and what I was doing with anybody who would listen. Shyness fell to the ground when it came to pitching ideas and letting people know what I was up to.

That came from juggling. Juggling was just something I did, and did well — so of course it was easy to talk about. I had and have that same confidence with writing, so aspects of promoting what I was doing came easy. (After a lot of practice, writing got easier, but I’ll never say it’s come as easy to me as juggling).

You’re right: a lot of things can fall to the side and aren’t like riding a bike when you get back to it. When I go back to juggling after a long break, I have to catch back up and sometimes get frustrated not being able to do what once came with ease. At the same time, when I come back, sometimes things I would have never thought about just happen with no effort.

Writing isn’t quite like that with me. After the break I took when my sister was sick and I was dealing with a pituitary tumor, it was the hardest, most frustrating thing I ever did. It would have been so easy to just stop and make up excuses. It took some time to feel comfortable writing again, but after awhile, there came that feeling I get after not juggling for awhile where things just clicked.

As a juggler, I do my best not to drop, but it comes with the territory and I’m used to picking things up and getting back to it.

Writing isn’t quite that easy to get back to after a few big drops. I know dropping things comes with the territory of writing, too, but I know I can never leave it on the ground for more than a few days.

For so many different reasons…

I hope you start juggling again. I’ve learned as I got older that a lot of things are not like riding a bike.