Comments | vrimj: The Good Thing About Being Bad

vrimj

The Good Thing About Being Bad

Aug 03, 2009 16:52

I love derby, but I am bad at it. And that is part of the point for me. I try to always have something that I am doing in my life that I am bad at. It is good for me. I have tried to explain this to a few people lately, and I think I am getting closer to a way to explain why I want to always suck at something in my life ( Read more... )

Comments 8

tedeisenstein August 3 2009, 22:57:56 UTC

And doing new stuff helps keep the mind and the body flexible, too. Even if you're bad at it. Hell, maybe even because you're bad at it. If everything new was easy, life would be awfully boring, and you would never learn anything new.....

vrimj August 4 2009, 11:31:13 UTC

Quite true

tevarin August 3 2009, 23:55:34 UTC

I love this post:)

vrimj August 4 2009, 11:31:28 UTC

Thank you :)

thefeychild August 4 2009, 13:47:40 UTC

I feel you. I am not as virtuous as you in that I never like to suck at anything, and very few things in life have ever come hard for me. I think I stuck with Derby because it was so very hard for me from the very beginning. I had absolutely no framework to understand something being that non-intuitive, and it is absolutely the first thing in my life I've ever had to work hard to get better at. And every tiny bit of progress forward comes from kicking my ass and kicking it some more, and months and months of not quite being there and still not quite being there and wanting so badly to get it and not being able to.

I feel a lot more virtuous in other aspects of my life for it too.

vrimj August 4 2009, 18:18:59 UTC

Remember that I am an old woman, and have had time to learn these things. I hated not being the best when I was your age and did not learn the value of doing something I suck at until I was almost 30 and in law school. Paul won a bet so I ended up in a hip hop aerobics class. I sucked. But I also started to learn to deal with the fact that I sucked.

In fact most of my challanges have been physical, before derby it was Chin style tai-chi which was great because you can suck at it for a looooong time, but Rob got the Tai-chi teacher in the divorce. It wored out because I like derby more, I will not be able to do it forever, and I am still not at all sure I will ever bout, but it makes me feel powerful.

tyrianmollusk August 27 2009, 20:46:44 UTC

We never discussed anyone "getting" the taichi teacher, and I have no problem making arrangements to not be there some classes, if that's what you need. Misha's classes are another option. He's good enough to teach our teacher... No one keeps you from practicing taichi.

thefeychild August 4 2009, 18:53:29 UTC

I wasn't really sure I wanted to bout even after I had a couple under my belt. In fact, I was officially on the roster and lineups (and not an alternate) for three bouts before I found the appeal.

I still can't wait to skate with you, and really, derby is a better fit for you than tai chi. :) It's like fight club, for women,