Changing your thoughts can change your actions

The past few days, I have been reading Hidden Potential by Adam Grant and The Anxiety Toolkit by Alice Boyes. Ideas I learned have given me new perspectives on growth over stasis. I am applying their ideas to a personal issue. I have struggled with getting on an escalator since COVID, even though I spent a number of years pre-COVID without this scourge. Yesterday, September 19, 2026, I tried to ride the Barnes and Noble escalator at Menlo Park NJ Mall but could not get on. When I returned home, I examined the thoughts that preceded my failing to step on. I was unable to time how to step fully onto a single step and was afraid I would then fall down, so I froze. I changed my focus: What to think about when stepping forward? I realized after watching others that even if I didn't get exactly on one step, I could adjust as I placed my second foot. Holding that in mind, I stepped on and rode up 3 times. Maybe in the future, I will be able to come down the escalator and ride others in the mall. For now, I have succeeded in my task and can continue to practice and build confidence.

I loved escalators and saw them as free amusement rides as a child, until when in 5th grade in 1958, I came down with the Asian Flu while my mother was on a day shopping trip in Boston, 2 1/2 hours from our home in southern Vermont. My Dad would carry me up and down between bouts of vomiting in store restrooms for many hours. I have struggled with escalators to a varying degree ever since. I have decided to relearn this skill now, before my 80th birthday next March. It is a gift to my husband, who has dutifully helped me find elevators whenever we have travelled.