Recently, I watched my two 5-year-old cousins take part in their first hockey practice. Seeing twenty little kids suited up in hockey equipment (for the first time) attempt to navigate the ice is thoroughly entertaining. They move around and tumble in the most spectacular ways.
Falling down and getting back up, over and over again. I watched these kids spend an hour on the ice repeating the cycle. When practice finished, they skated off the ice (or fell off the ice), and exclaimed, “that was so much fun!”
THE FREEDOM OF YOUTHFUL LEARNING
The hockey practice left me thinking about youthful exuberance and wondering how to integrate it back into my life. How can I discard the unproductive narratives about struggling to learn something new? Those little skaters don’t know any different.
For them, they simply trust the process. Everything they have learned has come through some form of falling down many times before they got better.
They’re not concerned with the opinions of others because they’re focused on learning. The kids are happy being on the ice trying something new. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could hold onto that youthful determination?
Wouldn’t it be fantastic if we could stop worrying about other people’s perceptions?
Marcus Aurelius said 2000 years ago, “It never ceases to amaze me: We all love ourselves more than other people but care more about their opinion than our own.” At some point in our social development, we become aware of how we compare to our peers. Negative feelings will often arise.
We begin to feel embarrassed and inadequate. Once we internalize those feelings, they stick to us. We no longer want to try new things for fear of not being good enough. We don’t want to face our inabilities, so instead, we stick to what is safe.
LIFE LESSONS IN FAILURE
I want to rediscover the carefree mentality of the young. I want to push past feelings of insecurity and develop a better relationship with small failures as I strive to learn and improve. I have only myself and my progress to judge. We admire the people that rise above their failures, yet we are afraid to face our own.
I will stumble. I will fall down. But I will get back up and try again. Falling down does not reflect the person I am. It shows I am trying to be better. Improvement is not a straight line. Improvement is an endless landscape of hills and valleys. The only way to learn is by falling down a few times.
“Nothing comes merely by thinking about it.” — John Wanamaker
LEARNING TO SKATE AS A METAPHOR FOR LEARNING ANYTHING IF LIFE
The ice is slick and skate blades are thin. It’s not easy to learn how to skate. You will fall down. Then you learn to get back up.
Once you’ve learned to get back on your feet, you keep trying. Soon enough, you’ll be able to skate, little by little. It will seem natural, like a skill you’ve always had. You will have that skill for the rest of your life.
When you realize that, you will see that everything you learn in life happens the same way.
Don’t worry about falling down. Just focus on getting back up, over and over again.
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”
Maya Angelou
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