After the death of a loved one, a long period of grief and depression, Candy Chang wanted to start a conversation. So she covered a crumbling house in her New Orleans neighbourhood with chalkboard paint and stenciled it with the prompt:
“Before I die I want to…”
Anyone walking by could pick up a piece of chalk, reflect on life, and share their personal aspirations in public.
By the next day, the wall was entirely filled out and it kept growing: “Before I die I want to… see my daughter graduate, sing for millions, abandon my insecurities, eat all the carbs I want, tell my mother I love her, see the leaves change many times, love recklessly again, make a liveable wage, have a student come back and tell me it mattered, live off the grid, follow my childhood dream, be completely myself.”
Thanks to passionate people around the world; over 4,000 walls have now been created in over 70 countries.
So you can just imagine my delight when one day in July 2016, as I was meandering through the streets of Athens in Greece, I stumbled across one of these walls. I excitedly scribbled down; "Before I die I want to … learn to ride a Vespa!" It was kind of silly, but not actually. It was me saying I want to challenge myself to be more courageous, to step into a new story and embrace the lighter side of life. It symbolized a snapshot of me wanting to overcome my insecurities.
It has taken me 2 years to finally pluck up the resolve to go for my Vespa Learners License and actually get on the road. This week for the first time I did it!
I donned the helmet, sat down on the seat, placed my hands on the bars and took comfort in the fact that the brake levers were a lot like my mountain bike. I was a little scared to take my feet off the ground and trust this machine, but as soon as I twisted the throttle and felt the wind in my hair, I smiled. I wondered what had held me back for two years. It was not nearly as daunting as I had imagined. Of course I did wobble nervously when corning my first bend, but as soon as I got familiar with the art of starting and stopping, it was time to see what was around the corner ... of the parking lot!
When I think back to that day in Greece, discovering this wall sprawled with coloured chalk and feeling desperately inspired by the aspirations of other people, I think that really I should have written something way more profound. Perhaps I could've been as clever as the person who wrote; “Before I die... I want to live”. But then I recognized that that was exactly what I had written. Envisaging the Vespa was just that - it was all about living a little more bravely, taking my feet off the ground and capturing the moment.
