Learn to skate (ice skating, roller skating, or skateboarding).

“One morning in early December 2018, I exited the subway station, walked past a bunch of smokers, and continued down the cement stairs to find a quiet little ice rink with a fence at one end. I found a warm changing room with benches where I put on my skates. Minutes later I was standing on the ice for the first time. I held the fence and took small, marching steps. Very slightly, my skates glided forward. About an inch. It was one of the most thrilling experiences of my life.”

“On my drive to the rink for that first lesson, I was beyond scared. We’re talking heart-racing, palms-sweating, short-of-breath kind of terror. My fear was amplified when I saw the other skaters in my Adult Basics class gliding across the ice toward our instructor and even skating backwards. There had to be a mistake. Maybe I had signed up for the wrong class? I wasn’t sure I could stand up on ice skates — much less move myself across the rink to our class’s meeting spot. My terror was approaching full panic.”

“I am so much more shy and so many years older than I should be to be learning something so openly awkward and painful, so likely to cause broken bones and pride. My body doesn’t fully understand this thing. My limbs don’t know where to go and I fall a lot. At first, I took to riding around in hidden places, at quiet hours: after dark, after closing, early in the morning or in tucked-away spots where few walk by.”