We all at some point have tried new things. We may not want to for what ever reason…”I’m not good enough”, “I’m too busy”, “I’m not into that”, “I won’t be any good at it”…same old mind games, blah, blah, blah. So my mate talked me into trying yoga with her. Yes. Me. Yoga. I have spent years avoiding it because I couldn’t “see” myself doing it. If you have met me, you’ll know all too well how clumsy and uncoordinated I am. I’m patient with other people, but when it comes to myself, I’m not patient. Far from it and I generally find it hard to slow down and relax. I’m working on it. My idea of a fantastic holiday is not lying around on a sandy beach on a tropical island, having a waiter bring me cocktails for hours. Rather I tend to pack my days full of adventure and site seeing, walking and moving around as much as possible, I have to see and do as much as I possibly can.
So…yoga. It happened. I
spent all day working myself up over it, telling people how bad I would be,
worrying that I would face plant, break an ankle or concuss myself some how,
because knowing me, that would happen.
At 6:30pm I went into the class pretty nervous and very
self-conscious. No shoes? But I’m at the gym… do I have to take
them off? Ok…done, I am SOOOOO out
of my comfort zone. Next came the
comparisons, for the first time in a very long time I was comparing myself to
everyone else in the room. “OMG,
I’m HUGE! Everyone is tiny
compared to me…I’m so fat!” No
seriously, nearly everyone in that room was a size 4 or 6! My head hasn’t really been in the game
lately, but I recognised the mind game I was playing and was able to flip
it. Enough comparisons! Recognising the games we play is half
the issue sometimes. So for
recognising what I was saying to myself, I am proud.
So we started sitting on the floor, in some
pose…I couldn’t repeat the name if I tried to be perfectly honest, but I was
fiddling with my hands, not really knowing how to ‘relax’ them. Thankfully it was a very small class
and nobody cared what I was doing.
So I sat, and stretched…after some pretty brutal weights sessions
earlier in the week, it felt good to stretch.
So like I said, I’m not good with the slowing
down and relaxing thing. The soft
music, mood lighting and acrobatic contortionist positions had me fighting back
a few laughs, was I really doing this?!
“Bite your tongue Liz, bite your tongue…oh wait we’re reaching”. Slowly, eventually, I managed to relax
a little, sitting, twisting and stretching, my butt firmly on the ground with
no potential to fall. Great I
thought, I can do this.
Next came the downward dog, ‘YES! I know this one!!” Oh wait, legs are
going in the air, arms started to flail aimlessly and all of a sudden I was
extremely tense, on the verge of falling and ridiculously tense all over, IT
WAS SO STRESSFUL! The instructor
was good, correcting positions and not drawing focus to any wobbling,
well…until I managed to do the splits that is!
I survived it though. I tried it and I survived it. Would I do it again? Maybe. Probably. I
don’t know. I am trying to open
myself up to new experiences and try new things, but maybe yoga just isn’t my type
of exercise? At least I can say I
have tried it. It is good to try
new things. We human beings thrive
on routine. How often do you go
out to dinner, to the same restaurant, and order the same dish? Yep, I admit, I don’t even need to look
at the menu when I walk into my favourite restaurants. Oh Argo’s? “I’ll have the special salad and sweet potato fries
thanks”. Sushi train? “Smoked salmon and avocado please!” However routine supports discipline. Day in day out, I train. I don’t always want to, but I do,
because it is just a part of my daily routine, without it my day is disturbed
which can potentially send me down a self-destructive route. We humans don’t like to put ourselves
into situations where we feel unsafe.
We don’t like to look foolish, feel embarrassed or to fail, especially
in front of others. So after
all of that, the pros to trying new things far out weight the cons.
Trying new things often requires courage.
The more often you are brave
and courageous, the better
you feel about yourself, the more often you believe you can do anything. Trying something new opens up the
possibility of you enjoying
something new. Countless people have changed their lives, because they
tried something new and they loved it.
Trying new things keeps you from becoming bored. Yes, yes…we all love our routine, but
you have to keep
life interesting! Finally, trying new things forces you
to grow.
You will never change if you do what you have always done. Growth and change requires the
willingness to take a new action.
Constant self-challenge keeps you humble and open to new ideas. You will never know everything, I will
never know everything, I don’t think that any one person can ever know
everything. Therefore there will
always be something new to learn.
So try it. Open yourself up
to new experiences, embrace them and immerse yourself in them. Then, and only then will you know
whether or not certain experiences are right for you.
Liz Xox
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