Stick-to-it-ness

After writing my post about photography, I have been thinking a lot about stick-to-it-ness. I am referring to the stick-to-it-ness that comes with perfecting a particular skill or talent as I can't even touch upon delicate subjects like sticking to one place.  I think about musicians who practice their instruments for hours a day, the Kenyan runner who leaves family and friends behind to train, run and win just about every race known to man, or even the potter perfecting the wheel. They all certainly have stick-to-it-ness.

I have none.  Ok – let me rephrase, I have none in terms of sports, hobbies and overall crafty talent or artistic skills. Despite being on this earth for almost 3 decades, I have spent a lot of time trying out things, deciding I don't like them, and moving on to something else. In general, I have no problem with this lack of stick-to-it-ness except when I realize that I'm not extremely good at anything  and only mediocre at a few things.

Having realized this, I have been on a slight rampage to find something I really love doing so much that I am going to stick to it! While I initially had fantasies about turning chunks of clay into high income-generating master pieces, I realize that greatness will just have to find me through some other medium because it certainly won't be through ceramics. The jury is still out about whether I will find greatness through gardening as right now mother nature is totally working against me, but that's a whole other post!

However, not all is lost. I have found at least two activities that I hope to be doing for the rest of my life:

Yoga

I absolutely positively love practicing yoga. I have done it intermittently for several years and every time I make a new attempt, I realize how much it is so perfect for me. I love the challenge of doing a new pose, the level of concentration that it requires, the way you get to feel parts of your body that you don't even realize exist. In addition, the more I read about the other limbs of yoga (the asanas or 'postures' you learn in yoga class is just one of the 8 components of yoga – it's a long story but you can find out more right here) to more I want to learn. Yoga classes at studios are really expensive in D.C. so I generally stick to the ones at my gym, but I certainly have my eye on a lot of things including eventually becoming an instructor.

Cycling

I am not sure I can officially say 'cycling' yet as it has been forever and a day since I was on a real bike outside, but from the minute I completed by first spinning class at the gym, I knew that cycling was the sport for me. I have spent many years doing the whole running, lift weights, blah, blah, blah routine at gyms and I can promise you that each and every single minute has felt like a chore. As a result, I have never been consistent at it and it if wasn't for the "must keep heart and muscles from turning into bubbler" thing, I would have given up on the whole thing a long time ago. But luckily I found spinning classes and I literally love it! It's the first exercise I have done that doesn't feel like exercise but is just plain, simple fun (swimming is fun too)! Now I'm on the lookout for a good bike so that I can ride outside and who knows, marathons may even by in my future.

I have a few other activities up my sleeve but it's too early to delve into them, but I will keep you posted as my stick-to-it list grows!