Overcoming personal adversities. 

"Ike" (untitledcarshow) 12/08/2015 at 18:02 • Filed to: you can do it!

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So in keeping with my theme of my !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , I’m going to post a fact you all don’t know about me. Why I started doing what I’m doing as a way to challenge myself.

File Photo of another of life’s challenges for me

Those of you who don’t know me in my personal life my be surpsied to know( I’m terribly socially awkward. It used to be really bad when I was younger, I remember a 4th grade teacher constantly telling me I need to look her in the eyes and not at her shoes. I hated talking to, or worst yet calling people. I used to just let everything go to voice mail, then call back when either the person was asleep or the business was closed. Telephone tag was my favorite game. I advoided crowds, kept only a skeleton crew of friends, and was more or less about not being noticed.

So as you can imagine, this is not good way to get shit done in life. So much of my life since around the time I turned 19 has been about challenging myself, (to varying degrees of success). Different jobs mostly having to interact with the public, when then tough I could kinda hide or just revert to a preprogrammed set of sentences. I decided after securing a good paying job and kinda just resting on my laurels for a couple years, to get back to challenging myself. While not my first effort out of this, “The Untitled Car Show” is probably the one most up against my skill set. I have to call, and talk to companies & people, setting up interviews, interacting with people, and having to be witty and charming, and definitely not just a robot. (All to varying degrees of success.)

Worst still, I have to write. Oh lord during my K-12 career I was cast in to a “special needs” class.

No I’m not mentally handicapped. It was a matter of I lacked hand eye coordination so bad due to a couple of really bad ear infections as an infant. They absolutely destroyed my sense of balance. Which had a trickle down effect on all my motor skills, the last real vestige of its effects was my hand eye coordination. (I still kinda walk funny, and my hand writing is still really bad. So thank god the computer took off when it did). So because I was so bad at hand writing I had a lot of physical therapy classes instead of creative writing courses. So When I did stop having to do the physical therapy in my writing classes (around the 3rd grade). It still seemed like punishment to have to hand write things out that quickly, English class, creative writing and alike would become my worst subjects. (As a aside what helped out more then anything with my hand eye coordination was video games, in the year after my parents got me a sega my hand writing improved remarkably)

File photo of little baby Ike

I hated writing, I had no real clue as how to get my ideas on the the page. Even after computing took off; I just lacked that fundamental skill. I think my saving grace was that I always enjoyed reading, you can’t do much else as an uncoordinated 5 year old. It hit me about 3 years ago, that I was reading so much from these automotive journalists, that I could probably figure this writing thing out. It was never wrecking writing for others to read. My first real attempts were all just deleted, because I couldn’t stand them. Now it’s still the hardest thing for me to do in regards to the podcast.

Writing and talking to people, my two Achilles heels when I was younger, now I force myself to do them. It’s not easy, I still get super nervous having to make calls sometimes for no reason. I feel so much better as a person forcing myself to do these things.

So go do something sat outside of your comfort zone. I can’t tell you how good it feels to push yourself. Essentially your mental hang ups, it’s not easy believe me, but it does get less difficult over time.

Thanks everyone for listening for 2 years of my gibberish on the podcast, and my post on oppositelock.

Ike is co-host of the Untitled Car Show ( !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ) he has owned 2 Dodge Challengers; a Volvo C30, a V70XC, a V70R, 740; and a Saturn Ion . He is a new father and loves driving and autocrossing. He can jerry rig with the best of them, and he wrote his bio in third person. He also has 2 dogs, 2 cats and is a crazy person some say!

Email the author !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

Svart Smart, traded in his Smart > Ike 12/09/2015 at 01:32

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Way to go, dude. I struggled with social anxiety for many years, undiagnosed. My therapist finally figured it out in 2012 when I was being treated for depression. Phone calls, public speaking, and customer/employee interactions are almost complete non-issues for me, although I still get a little nervous when I have to mix and mingle at a social function. Fortunately, now I have some of the mental tools I need to get through those situations.

Redhondamike > Ike 12/09/2015 at 01:50

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Not sure why I’ve never seen your posts... But your writing in this one is really good. Very easy to read. I feel like when I try to write articles I ramble on and on and it gets confusing. This article is the opposite. Keep it up.

Ike > Svart Smart, traded in his Smart 12/09/2015 at 02:41

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Thanks, & good on you, I’ve seen people struggle with depression, and I know how hard that can be. I am a big believer in therapy, (even tho I’m not currently in any) but there is something so fundamentally beneficial about that one on one experience, and concentrating on the problem and bettering yourself.

Ike > Redhondamike 12/09/2015 at 02:49

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Thanks! I appreciate that! I’m sure I used to ramble a lot worst, I think it’s a very easy trap to fall into, ya know, just talkin and talking about nothing, just going on and on and on.

Seriously tho, I think it’s just practice, I try and make sure I write atleast one article a week, practice makes perfect I guest