Then after another session, he was moved to the Invitation-Only, “IO”, classes and has since been moved to Mighty Mites, the boys’ version of the pre-team. We drop him off now twice weekly for two hours each session and he practices and learns with kids ages five to 10 for that full two hours.
As a Mom, I was hesitant to leave my young child alone to “train” for that amount of time. He seemed so young to me to be doing what he was doing and trying such involved exercises. But he has the talent and interest for it and the instructors are extremely qualified and cautious. So I got over it.
What most powers him through his times at the gym are his LACK of a mental limit. He just knows he has found something he LOVES to do, a safe environment to do it in, and brings with that a willingness to learn. Half the time he has no idea the technical term or extent of the move, but he just watches, tries, fails, tries again, makes progress. Repeat. To him, he knows no differently. His mind is open and it has not set up his “I can’t do that” boundaries.
I watch him and think, “But what if?” or “How does your body do that?” But do you see what’s kicking in on my end? Mental limits! As an adult, we tend to over analyze, ponder, or get hung up on even the simplest of events. As a kid, they usually have not even begun to enter into such a land and amazingly what they can do is quite impressive! Kids just go and do because they don’t see a limit, they have NO mental barriers!
I want what he has. Sure, I’m not going to be able to cartwheel like that anymore or learn a front handspring, but I can learn to let go of the “I can’t”, “What if” or “Maybe” mindset that I often tow along.
My mind can be my biggest hurdle in life.
So instead of thinking, “What if I fall?”, I need to start thinking like he does.
“But what if I fly?!”
No mental limits. Cartwheel on!
