For real. I fell out of my lyra the other day (an aerial apparatus in the shape of a circle).
I’m not injured, I got back up and finished my run through - all the things that make it okay now. But in the moment, it was terrifying and made it hard to focus.
That evening, when I told my husband about it, I didn’t get the response I was expecting. This is how our conversation went:
“So, I fell out of the lyra today and I’m fine but I’m not fine.”
“You did what?! You fell all the way out of it?”
“Yeah, I didn’t get hurt, but it was terrifying”
“It’s okay. (pause) Do you know why it’s okay? Because it means you were pushing yourself.”
Our conversation continued on about how I did it in a safe place (at my training home over a padded floor and not very high and that I actually caught myself before I touched the ground, etc) but the most important part of the conversation, the part that got my attention and shifted my perception away from the fear, was “because it means you were pushing yourself”.
Here I was, thinking it happened because I’m not good enough, because I wasn’t paying enough attention, because I did something wrong. And that is false. What Charlie said is true. I’m working on a piece that is pretty far removed stylistically and technically from what I’ve done on hoop thus far in my career. And this got me thinking about other scenarios when we (literally or figuratively) fall on our faces.
What were we doing so right, that it pushed us just outside our comfort zone and forced us to grow? In this case, I was spinning a little faster, and performing a newish skill. Now I know what that momentum does AND I am so grateful that I have a safe and supportive place to test these things out. It could have happened during an adrenaline filled performance 25 feet off the ground instead of 6 feet off the ground over a mat with an amazing coach and training partners at my side. How quickly my thoughts went from being a shrinking violet, to figuring out how to keep it from happening again, or maybe… how do I make that happen on purpose and turn it into a dynamic element of my routine?
Where can YOU push the boundaries and have a little more courage? What would happen if you did? What would happen if you didn’t? What do you need to be just safe enough to take the risks you need to grow? Need help or have questions? Send me a message, I’m here to help.
~ Cheryl