The legacy of being picked last

I was not an athletically gifted child.  I have very poor eyesight, so was terrible at sports that required eye-hand coordination.  Because of this, I was always one of the last kids picked when teams were drawn up in grammar school.

Before starting school, I thought of myself as an outside kid.  I loved to play tag, and red light/green light, and red rover, and climb trees and ride my bike.

But getting picked last eroded my confidence that I was good at physical things.

So, I still rode my bike, and I still walked, but I got less adventurous.  When we did the President's physical fitness test, I could do all the strength and endurance activities, but forget about the eye/hand stuff.

So, when adolescence hit, and you had to add smelly perspiration, and a high school locker room where you had to change clothes in front of people, I hated it.

I stopped being physically active, except I still loved to walk.  And since walking wasn't considered a sport, I no longer thought of myself as having athletic ability.

A couple of times I tried to embrace a lifestyle that included physical fitness, but the voices in my head always shut me down.

I became a smoker.  I had random affairs with exercise, but never stayed the course.

Then I met my husband.  I'll take all the ridicule anyone wants to dish out on this, but I started running so that I would have an activity to share with him.

I didn't tell him I had started running after we started dating.  But after running for six weeks, I quit smoking so that I could run faster.

Then I had to tell.  His delight and encouragement certainly influenced me, but the biggest driver was that I had become reacquainted with the athlete I was as a child before being picked last.

So, what is the point here?  OK, the point is, I allowed other people's evaluation of my talent and my value to steal from me the enjoyment I get from testing my physical limits.

And here is the message.  What other people think or value does not matter.

If you like to do something, do it.  Do it for you.  Celebrate your accomplishments, your contributions.  Be your own cheering section.

Since indulging myself by being the physical person I always was, I have greatly expanded my capacity for joyous celebration of me.

Whatever makes you do a happy dance, do it.  For you.   It IS all about you.  You are a superstar.

And when you fully embrace the superstar that is you, it is SO much easier to celebrate with others the superstar that they are.

Celebrating what you love to do without judgement allows you to celebrate with others what they love to do without judgement.

Be joyously what you are made to be.  Celebrate joyously with others as they actualize.

Who cares who picked who last.

We are all superstars at being ourselves.  No one can be you.  No one can rock the world the way you can.  Rock on.