You may have read my post “Suck big” about my experience in February skiing. Since that experience I have been asking myself the question, “What’s my thing?” Everyone should be good at something. Everyone, especially adolescents, need accomplishments in their lives to help foster self-confidence. When you have faith in yourself and your capabilities, you can conquer the world.
I guess what I am thinking about here are talents, talents for sports, musical instruments, singing, crocheting, curling, whatever. We all have talents and if cultivated, we can truly do anything if we want it bad enough. My favorite saying is “if you have the desire, you have the ability”. That statement gives me the pep I need to keep working toward all of my goals in life.
So what is my thing? Well I know what isn’t my thing: skiing, softball, cycling, ice skating, golf, paddle tennis (Wii game excluded), blah, blah, blah. As I write this, I realize I really never give any of these a chance. To be half way decent at anything you have to practice. And I never cared to practice until my husband came along. You may remember Mr. Olympian. He does everything naturally well. It borders on nauseating and I often refuse to play Wii games with him due to his overly competitive nature that can suck the fun out of a good game of bowling. Although now I see the same rock hard calf muscles on my three year old son and foresee him (just like his father) dominating whatever sport he chooses to play.
Teaching old dogs new tricks really is hard and I am far from an old dog. At the spry age of 36, I have a lot of life left. But I have to say, learning a new sport later in life can be quite a challenge. First, self-conscious only begins to describe the situation. Second, the fear factor. Fear of physically hurting oneself must increase with age. If you disagree, please reread “Suck Big” my last post. And third but I am sure not last, what shape am I in? I like to think of myself as someone in good physical condition. I run at least 10 miles a week, I weigh less then I did before I was pregnant. Overall, I feel good about my health and shape. That being said, I have an old back injury from lifting a heavy television 6 years ago that can really give me fits if I move the wrong way. So, any new physical activity has the potential to truly be a pain in the ass. Again, these are all excuses that I will hopefully push out of the way to discover the fun that these activities have to offer.
I promise to keep an open mind for all of the sports I see muddling through in my future. One may stick. We shall see. So I ask you, what’s your thing? While you are looking for your thing, drop me a line if you find mine. I think it may have rolled under the couch.
