TO PUT IT MORE BLUNTLY
(AND FAR MORE ACCURATELY),
I'VE BEEN BLESSED WITH THE
PHYSICAL GRACE OF A
ONE-EYED DRUNKEN
RHINOCEROS.
(Keith Cronin)
When I was a girl, my mother signed me up for the occasional dance and gymnastics class. This was fine when I was really young and still cute. This wasn't so fine when I got older and chunkier and clunkier. I made ballet class look like a very bad audition for the cast of Stomp.
We all have different talents and attributes. Gracefulness is not one of mine. I am not poetry in motion, but I am (sometimes, hopefully) poetry on the page. And I'm good with that.
I'm all for trying new things, but I'm also all for not beating ourselves up when we think we're not "enough" - athletic enough, strong enough, smart enough, pretty enough, etc.
Let's play to our strengths, whatever they are. Use them. Enjoy them. Celebrate them!
I so resemble that quote! Hahaha.
ReplyDeleteI took karate years ago and yoga now. I still have trouble balancing on one foot.
I can barely balance on the treadmill. I need to at least rest my hands on the railings or else I'm toppling. Or at least veering. :)
DeleteI was in band, so I had to have some amount of grace and a whole lot of rhythm.
ReplyDeleteThat reminds me of that commercial where the kid is exercising and trying to build muscle - you think so he can get girls or join a sports team, etc - but then you find out it's so he can carry the tuba in band. Really good commercial! :)
DeleteI remember wanting to be a ballerina when I was little. I don't think I'm clumsy enough, but not sure dancing is something I excel at, so it might be a good thing that never happened.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember really wanting to be a ballerina or a dancer. I do think I enjoyed the somersaults and balance beam work in gymnastics - until I got too big and clumsy for my own good. :)
DeleteIn my head, I'm a graceful and lithe dancer. In practice, not so much. Still, it makes family weddings fun :-)
ReplyDeleteI can do the Chicken Dance and the Hokey Pokey with the best of them. :)
DeleteONE-EYED DRUNKEN RHINOCEROS....HAHAHA!!!! Love that!
ReplyDeleteI wasn't graceful either as a kid. I badly wanted to be a ballerina but my feet were too big and my arms too lanky and awkward. I also wasn't flexible. I eventually got over it and then realized being a writer is the best fit for me. :)
This quote made me laugh out loud the first time I read it. :)
DeleteMy imagination is much more creative and flexible than the rest of me.
I've never been too graceful but I still tried to ignore that fact when I was little--dance, gymnastics, softball. I don't know what I was thinking. I have such poor balance I can't even ride a bike!
ReplyDeleteI liked softball - the hitting, not the running. :)
DeleteBike riding is easier now that I have a cruiser bike - wider and sturdier. Like me. :)
I agree and can relate to your words. I always thought I was a good dancer, but then the boobs showed up and my curves. My confidence just suffered, not to mention that I didn't have any rhythm:) But I should definitely rather focus on the good aspects:) Thank you for reminding me. Have a wonderful week.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome for the reminder. Now keep focusing on all your strengths!
DeleteGrace, not part of my makeup either! So not coordinated! LOL But I could play football! LOL
ReplyDeleteGood for you on playing football! You are tough. :)
DeleteThis post was both funny and inspiring. I hit a growth spurt in my teens and was clumsy, and I think I'm still a bit of a klutz.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoyed it, Donna!
DeleteLove this quote. Another drunken rhinoceros here LOL.
ReplyDeleteI think there are a lot of us out in the world. :)
DeleteMy mom signed me up for dance class because she hoped it would make me more graceful. I had a terribly mean teacher and spent three years lined up at the back of the class in grass-stained tights. However, I did like tap class, and I loved the idea of being graceful so I would dance around the living room to orchestra music, mimicking Ginger Rogers. I think I may have learned more that way than I did in those first ballet classes. Later, when I hit 12, I took more dance classes and actually found a bit of ability - the teacher was nice and I actually practiced instead of climbing trees in my tights and leotard. I never went very far with dance, but I grew to love it.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I didn't get that "grace" my mom wanted me to have - I still have a magnificent talent for tripping over my own feet, running into chairs and tables that have been in their places for years, and bumping my head while getting in and out of cars.
But yes, let's play to our strengths! A challenge or stretch is good now and then, but it's good to know and do what we each do best. :)
It's amazing what an encouraging teacher can do, isn't it?
DeleteAnd I totally agree about challenging and stretching ourselves because you never know - we might find something else we love and that we're good at. :)
I wasn't athletically gifted as a child (understatement of the year), but I always wanted to be a kick boxer, so as a young adult I started taking lessons and worked really hard at it. The qualities that are prized in muay thai--balance, aggression, flexibility--don't come easily to me, but each class makes me want to be better.
ReplyDeleteI'll never be the top-ranking kick boxer in the world, but I'm decent, and I've been told my right cross could knock anyone out. I'm fine with that. When people describe me as athletic, I still look around to see who they're referring to. ;)
I am definitely impressed! I think it's so important, too, that you work hard at it for yourself, even though you know you won't be perfect/the best/the top. It's that attitude of "if I can't be the best than I'm not even going to try" that holds a lot of people back, me included sometimes.
DeleteI never did dance...I wish I had. Poetry on the page is just enough though, for me!
ReplyDeleteYou could always give dancing a try now. :)
DeleteWhen I grew three inches in a year and my co-ordination didn't keep up, my father insisted I be enrolled in ballet classes. I was already the tallest girl in my entire class, including the boys, at school, so imagine the dancing hippos from Fantasia, but not nearly so graceful. Thank the heavens for sports, at which I excelled. I'm still not a great dancer, but certainly better than attempting to twirl around the floor as a ballerina! So it seems we have something major in common!
ReplyDeleteSee now, I like the dancing hippo description better than the rhinoceros one. :)
Delete