I will be riding a new horse at horseback riding this afternoon and I am not sure how it will turn out.

What feelings arise? 

Uncertain, unsure, tense, eager, anxious, excited

How does it affect you? 

I am slightly jittery because I am looking forward to it a lot but at the same time I am nervous. So for today, whenever something has happened that makes me feel unpleasant, I have just thought of horseback riding and it improved my day immediately.

What is your part? 

My part is that I am the one on the new horse. I have no idea how she will react and I have to make sure I keep an open mind. If I don’t, my ride will probably not end well. I have to trust her, that she won’t hurt me, and she has to trust me, that I will guide her well.

What are you learning about yourself, others, the situation?

I am learning to trust new things, have faith in others, how to take chances, and how to have new experiences that have a chance of being great.

What can you shift or turn around in your beliefs, thinking, words, or actions? 

I can shift from being nervous, which the horse would detect almost instantly, to being open-minded and positive. If I do that, it will reflect to her and make her more cooperative.

How do you choose to work with your difficulty?

Keep an open mind and be positive. However, if at any time I feel unsafe, I will either work towards trusting her again or get off and take a break. I will not give up. If it doesn’t work today, I will try again on another day.

What is this difficulty teaching you?

Learning to trust and be trusted is a wonderful skill that is used when trying to make new friends. Not being sure as to what I should expect, but still progressing forward is something that I will use whenever I am thrown into a new situation.

NOTE (two weeks after processing difficulty)

As you may have noticed, I have some issues with trust.

I tend to not like to open up about personal problems, even to people I trust completely. It is understandable as to why I might not always open up to my parents, or my sister, as at my age, relationships with family members become much more complicated. My closest friends, which I trust completely, I would not share my deepest problem with. I am too “inner secluded” of a person. So I would not be open to processing a bigger challenge. It is too personal for me to do with someone I barely know.

I am slowly beginning to confide more in my friends but it has taken me a long time to get to that point. And I still don’t discuss my biggest problems with them. I might ask about the problem more in general, or about smaller parts of it, but I never completely open up.

16 years, female