Indulgence

The body in motion

21 Grams (written by Guillermo Arriaga)
Whoever looks for the truth deserves punishment for finding it.

I've been invited to join my wall-climbing friends to go and play ultimate frisbee. And I am extremely eager to join them and play. The game in itself intrigues me and it is a very passionate sport, as I was told, because the commitment you make to catching that frisbee and the speed in which it is played gets you so caught up with it that there is nothing else but the game. Aside from the fact that it is also a great work-out, I find it a very tempting offer which I want to accept.

I've never really been the athletic kid. As a kid, I was hyper. I was constantly running around, dancing, jumping over furniture and climbing under tables and chairs. But I was never really athletic. Coordination wasn't the point of the exercise, it was just motion. Later on, in High School, I had already gotten fat but I played a lot of volleyball but never good enough to be considered good. I just liked to play but never well enough to excel. College showed the increased decline of my physical activity. I had lost a lot of weight due to my quitting soft drinks and my increased walking rate but sports had been almost non-existent in my life.

It surprises me now that after all this time, I'm getting involved and getting enthusiastic about joining sports. I'll admit I'm not the best wall-climber and I've been climbing for three months now and some people who have been climbing for just a month are getting better at it then I am. I've always been a poor student. I'm practicing weight distribution now and footwork and I'm not getting it. But I can feel the increase in my physical strength, I can see the effect it has on my body, and the increase in energy and zest I have 2 days after a wall-climbing day.

And now, I feel like I have the energy and the strength to push myself to the next level. Ultimate Frisbee is a cardio work-out that involves team work, a quick mind and precision. For the first time, at 26, I feel like this is something I can do and I want to do and I think I can do well. I've never been comfortable in team or competative sports because I'm such a Mr. Hyde when it comes to competition. I turn into this horrible monster who needs to win.

But the wall-climbing people are so nice and I feel I can absorb that sort of spirit and not take it too seriously.

Knowing that I can be a physical person and still be intellectual and creative excites me because I don't want to be put into some easily categorized box. I refuse to be put into this simple little box. I want to be everything I can be and I don't want anyone to say otherwise.

This sort of thing will really make me happy. To know that I can break the boundaries of a routine and expected existence. I can break the mold. I won't be what you expect me to be.

I just love the thrill of my body working overtime, pushing itself to its limits. I do that with my mind on a daily basis. It's time to use everything...

posted by wanggo @ 3:10 PM