Saturday, September 26, 2009

Perseverance

When I was 12 I saw this guy stick two fingers in his mouth and out came the loudest whistle I had ever heard. At the time, it was the coolest thing I had ever seen/heard and I was determined to learn how. For days I walked around in a state of frustration and determination with my fingers in my mouth, blowing and blowing, leaving a trail of saliva and an echo of an awful hissing sound. I remember my dad yelling in annoyance one night at the dinner table that he had enough and I should quit immediately. Quit? How could I quit? If I quit then I would be a quitter and that's out of the question. And besides, I had this idea that if I could master the loud whistle then I would be cool and maybe someday some little kid would be inspired by me, similar to how I was inspired by the whistling stranger.

I can still remember with exact clarity the sense of fulfillment when I heard the first resemblance of a whistle ripple over my water soaked wrinkled fingers. After that, the progression to a level of whistle mastery was quick. It was so strange to me how something that seemed impossible suddenly became simple. This lesson in perseverance was a valuable one to learn.

Whenever I watch footage on television of boxers training I am in awe of how they can dance with a skipping rope. I always had this dream of being able to do that someday. Nine months ago, as part of my new adventures in fitness, I decided that I was going to learn to dance with a skipping rope. Now, if you've ever seen me try to dance with my two left feet, you'd wonder why I'd be foolish enough to add a third obstacle. For some reason, in the fantasy world that's my reality, I was sure I was going to be a natural at it. Wrong!!

My first goal in developing jumping rhythm, strength, and stamina was to learn to do a double under. One jump, two rotations of the rope. On certain days, I hid in the yoga studio of my gym and desperately tried to do a double under. And with every failure and feeling of impossibility, I kept replaying that feeling of my first loud whistle, knowing that one day everything would click and I would complete a double under. Last Thursday I was successful. After waiting and wondering when the moment would occur, it finally happened. It was a joyous and very proud moment. It was another victory to add to the mental checklist of why I persevere.

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