A little outdoors fun to start 2009

Fun! Today was my first Saturday of the new year, and the weather was actually pretty decent outside: no rain, some sun, temperature up to the mid-50s. So after breakfast and a little housework, I decided to play outside for a while. :)

I got out my skateboard and rode around the neighborhood and over to the park for a little while. I was just taking it pretty easy, working on getting back into shape for riding, and watching my technical form. The Bethel neighborhood skate park was really busy with kids, so I rode on by. I decided to come back out with my basketball and shoot some hoops, because the court was deserted and I haven't played that for at least a year.

I am still pretty novice at basketball, but it's a game I feel I might like to play. I'm looking for more activities I can get involved with for fun. Today I played for about 45 minutes, so it was not bad exercise, too. I practiced dribbling with each hand, and picked a spot near the hoop and practiced shots. I aimed to get as many in a row as I could. I got up to 6 or 7 in a row without missing. Perhaps next time I'll be able to do 10 in a row.

I have always enjoyed playing physical sports, but as a kid I had a lot of discouraging experiences and learned to feel that I wasn't any good and wouldn't ever be "good enough." So, unfortunately, to protect myself I learned to avoid most organized sports, and I rationalized that playing sports was nothing important. I was very talented in all my classes at school (even probably decent overall in P.E.) and doing well in academics was much more important, right? Well, since then I've learned that I need to not give in to the fear that says I am "not good enough" and discourages me from being open to experiences. I really always wanted to be a "jock" and secretly envied those who were successful in sports. I don't even like to watch sports at this point because it reminds me of how I wish I were doing and not just watching. Obviously I was not being honest with myself when I was denying this interest area of mine.

This year I haven't made any serious resolutions, but one thing I plan to work on is being more open to my experiences and interests, including exploring my desire to have fun and play.