It’s time to let go and just be a child

Leaving work behind for my epic 

"Fitness Fun Friday in Fluro"

I think that sometimes we can take life a little too seriously.  Well I know I can!  “Nah that’s for kids”, “I don’t have the time for that” etc, etc…these excuses sound familiar?  Maybe, maybe not.  Perhaps people like me should take a little time out of our busy schedules to let go, relax, and just have some fun, embrace our inner child and just go play. This is something I am learning to embrace rather than avoid, from running around the park, playing with my dog, and mucking around at work, my laugh echoing loudly.  Last week this even progressed to racing through the corridors at Uni…yes, racing through the corridors at Uni.  My friend Jess can attest to that one!  

Last week the 30+ crew had “Fitness Fun Friday”, a day where we all wear fluro whilst training and have fun at the same time.  So I went at this training session alone, running along the river and putting together a bit of a circuit for myself, think sumo squats, sumo squat pulses and burpees…not exactly “fun” especially on my own!  So on my way home I came across a great playground built on a hill, one I would have run (well, walked really, really fast!) screaming from in the past! I mean really, it involved climbing the hill first…but I decided to go for it.  “What the hell?  Why not?  There was hardly anyone around, Liz, just go have some fun!”  So I sprinted up that hill pushing my heart rate to 170bpm and started to play. Training is my “me” time, it’s the 4% of my day that is devoted to me, no work, no Uni, no relationships, no stress…So why not?

It was exhilarating!  I had so much fun being a child, sliding down that tall slippery dip, jumping up and down and scaling up and down boards, ladders and random twisty things.  I then got to the flying fox…well that’s not something I have done since I was 10!  Crazily I was able to completely hold my body weight for the whole distance!  Yep! Awkwardly holding a tiny child sized handle I held my body weight on the flying fox, mostly with one had I might add.  Winning!  There was also quite a high shaky plank bridge… a year ago, never in a million years would I have ever walked this…and yet I did. I faced a fear and I JUST DID IT!  A couple of years ago I was in New Zealand, and for some reason I thought it would be a brilliant idea to attempt a high ropes course…yes Liz…perfectly logical being scared of heights, scared that the rope wouldn’t hold me, the wire I was standing on would snap etc etc.  The same old mind games started running through my head, "your'e too big for this," "Your'e not good enough" etc etc.  

Needless to say I didn’t complete the first obstacle and ended up in tears, the fear paralyzing me.  However, this experience and doing the canyon swing (109m high, 60m free fall, 200m swing) in Queenstown, were definitely defining moments in me accepting my fear of heights and slowly overcoming them.  So even though this plank bridge wasn’t 10 meters high, and didn’t require the use of a safety harness, I DID IT!  And it felt great! I came away from that training session a total rock star! Well in my own mind that is, I had a huge grin on my face for the rest of the day.  

So moral of the story, sometimes it is good to embrace our inner child, and simply forget everything else, and just go and play.  Why not?  Life is too short to live so seriously, you never know, you might even surprise yourself with what you can do along the way!

In New Zealand, attempting the high ropes course

Liz Xox