This post isn’t really specific to Costa Rica other than some of the reflecting I’ve been doing while I’m down here, so if you’re looking for more travel-related stuff, you’ll have to wait for the next post.
But recently I have been reflecting on the journey that I’ve been on. I knew that coming down here would be a challenge and would take me out of my comfort zone. It would have been much easier, of course, to stay home. But this opportunity was a chance for me to grow personally, to challenge myself, and to learn and experience new things.
In 2011, I was 100 pounds overweight. I had carried the extra weight for almost all of my adult life, and for most of that time, I accepted it as just a part of who I was. I was obese, I was sedentary, and that was that.
Thankfully, I got scared enough by my lack of energy and some potential health problems that were coming up to do something about it. I wasn’t sure that I’d be able to take off the weight, but I was going to give it an honest effort. And it worked! August will mark 2 years of successful maintenance since I got to my goal.
One of the things that this accomplishment has given me is the chance to re-evaluate assumptions that I had made about myself over the years. Since I was able to reach my weight loss goal by finding a plan and sticking to it, other things suddenly seemed within reach, too. If there was something I really wanted, and I was willing to work for it, then suddenly everything seemed attainable.
I had never thought of myself as athletic before. My sister was always the athletic one. I was the good student. But as I was losing the weight, I started to exercise, and eventually started running. Now, that’s pretty much my primary hobby. So I had to redefine my assumptions about myself to include somebody who would actually go out and exercise, for fun even.
So this week, my guide and I got invited to go roller skating. It was actually a work party put on by one of the Costa Rican program coordinators. Normally, I would think, no way, I don’t really know how to roller skate, and I am not very coordinated.
But then I started to ask myself, was that just an old-fashioned assumption that I made about myself? Was it time to maybe put that one aside, and see if maybe roller skating was something that I could learn how to do?
If this were the movies, you might cut to the scene of triumph as I glided effortlessly around the rink. Unfortunately, real life doesn’t always turn out like the movies. I may be at a healthy weight, but that does not mean that I have developed any coordination.
What really happened was like this. I put on my skates and did manage to make it from the bench to the rink. Then, instead of heading to the rail to get the hang of things, I just sort of tried to go. I might have made it a total of five whole feet before I fell- hard- onto my tailbone. It instantly started hurting, and I had to sort of gather myself before I felt like getting back up again. And it hurt badly enough that as soon as I felt a little bit better, I changed right back into my shoes and did not make another attempt at roller skating.
Now, because of what I have been through with my weight loss, I am sure that I could learn how to roller skate if that was something I really wanted to do. But, honestly, I don’t think it is. Instead, I am accepting the fact that even though some things have changed about me and about my life, I still do not have any more coordination or balance than I had before. And, it’s OK to not be perfect, and to accept the fact that some things come more easily than others.
I watched the roller skating from the bench, which at least was always full of at least a couple of people resting or other benchwarmers. Luckily, my tailbone seems to be feeling better, although it is still a tad stiff on one side.
Zelanie Travels 