Ever stared at a Garfield cartoon picture and wonder how the heck Jim Davis and all the other cartoonists have the hand to ever draw him? He has so many lines, so many contours, shadows that fade on his orange colored skin? One time I decided to dare myself and sat down to draw my version of him. And you know what? It wasn't quite as difficult copying the cartoon. In the end I realized that all those lines wasn't as impossible as it looks.

Of course it takes more than just copying pictures that made my life as a kid an ordeal. When my dad purchased me my very first bike, I thought to myself that the gadget was near to impossible to learn. After countless bruises and painful strides down the street, I finally did manage to manuever the thing without the balancers.

As children we think that a certain task is close to unachievable especially when it's new to our senses. I understand now that the uncertainty never leaves as we grow older. At work we feel incapable when some new project is presented to us, at love we feel threatened as a new relationship comes in. What we fail to see is that once we try something on for size, we learn eventually that we can overcome anything and find out what makes us happy.

Nothing is perfect at the beginning. I fell many times on that bike, scribbled Garfield's nose in a twisted way. But after practicing and aiming for that goal, I look back and smile on how I did it. The greatest achievement is where we know we've done our best, succeeding or not. Every change or revert in pattern is not supposed to be something to be afraid of, but rather an opportunity to prove to ourselves how far we are willing to take that challenge.

Nobody really said something about my Garfield picture, or gave me an award for learning to ride a bike. But I remember that self-satisfying feeling that if I put my heart into doing something great, then the greatest award that I got was believing in myself that I am possibly capable of doing just about anything.

They say to take a risk to know where we can be happy, and it is not always a 100% guarantee that it is favorable to what we want. Most of the time there is failure, but being pushed down doesn't entail the fact that it's over. I learned to stand up again and push myself and try again. If it ends up not working, then at least I know I tried.

I wasn't afraid to grab a pencil and drew Garfield, and I know I shouldn't be afraid when my life is a never ending journey of challenges that I can conquer.