Most of us go through our days without really thinking about
the little things that are going on. We
move along with a plan in mind for the day ahead and many of the little things
we do during the journey just seem to happen automatically. We take them for granted. Then, every so often, we get a moment of
clarity when we realize that some of the things we take for granted have changed.
So it was yesterday.
As I stood outside of church waiting for my son, I found myself in
thought about something and just kind of pacing the walkway. Suddenly someone walked by me and smiled with
a bit of a chuckle. I smiled back and
just kept to my thoughts. Then a second
group came by and laughed a little. It
was then that I realized that, as I walked along, I was hopping up and down
with alternating steps on the eight inch concrete sidewalk that bordered the
walk. I didn’t even know I was doing
it. The steps were there…I was there…I
just shuffled along doing it…it was as natural to me as breathing.
Yesterday, I blogged about Assimilation. There have been many times when I have felt
that I just couldn’t sit down, but I do that when I am tired and just want to
be alert enough to pay attention. I have
plenty of normal habits and idiosyncrasies.
But, this wasn’t one of them. I was
hopping along. This was a clear sign
that the things I am doing are building themselves into my natural behavior
rhythms. It was the first time I had
noticed something that different in myself.
It was as if the Plyometrics were dying to get out. It was a little more than ‘different’ to me
because it was something I would have found myself doing as a kid. I am sure that’s why these people thought it
was amusing to see me doing it. Maybe even
strange.
I’m not going to lie here.
It felt good. It felt great. I felt like a million bucks to be able to
just move so freely around.
About seven or eight years ago, I was showing off to my kids
showing them how to jump rope with a speed rope. For those of you that don’t know, the speed
rope is a jump rope made of a rubber or heavy material so it can really fly
when you rotate it. Sometimes it’s even
on a swivel handle. When I was eighteen
or so, I could cross jump with it. I was
pretty good. So there I was with my
mid-forty year old two hundred and eighty-five pound frame, at a family
gathering with a few beers in me trying to show the kids how to do it. It was going real well right up to the point
where I was hopping from side to side on one leg. The ‘SNAP’ was so loud that the whole crowd
of twenty or so partiers all went silent.
I knew it was broken the minute I heard it.
The broken ankle was one thing, but the broken spirit hurt
just as much. I didn’t want to be the
guy that ‘used to’ be able to do anything.
I have since changed all that, but now I am noticing
permanent changes that I hope will be with me for the next ten to twenty
years. Yesterday just kind of shed a
little internal light on it. It felt
great. P90X is giving me back those
years and that attitude. It’s hard to
explain unless you experience it. Far
too few of us get to feel this. At this
time in our lives we are supposed to just accept that time will carry us
forward and do it’s damage. I’m not
ready. As my kids always say, “You’re
like a big kid in an adult body.” Now maybe I
can be, “A big kid in a younger body.”
That’s okay with me. In fact,
it’s better than okay.
Thanks P90X.
Ponce De Leon was looking in the wrong place…but then again, he didn’t
have infomercials.
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