Being Athletic

By Susan Andrus — March 1, 2010 — March 2010's Nudge

I am not athletic.

Maybe that’s not quite true–maybe it’s just that I haven’t found a sport or activ­ity I like. Or, per­haps, it’s because I’m too shy and self-conscious to enjoy things when peo­ple might be watch­ing. Maybe, hav­ing cho­sen drama as my extracur­ric­u­lar activ­ity at a young age, I haven’t had enough oppor­tu­ni­ties to become ath­letic. Could it be that some peo­ple just aren’t?

All I know is that some peo­ple are extremely ath­letic, includ­ing my younger sib­lings, and I’m not. Are you ath­letic? What does “being ath­letic” mean to you? Why do you think you are or aren’t ath­letic? Was there some­one who got you started or a time when you remem­ber becom­ing more, or less, ath­letic? How does it make you feel?

I’m try­ing to get some exer­cise this month, break­ing out of my usual rou­tines. I might like it… I encour­age you to try some­thing new this month too: If you usu­ally write, try paint­ing or sculpt­ing to express your thoughts about being ath­letic. If you are a pho­tog­ra­pher, try start­ing with words. If you’re a musi­cian, try cre­at­ing a short skit. Who knows? You might find new dimen­sions to your art by break­ing out of your usual rou­tines. And I might actu­ally be a lit­tle athletic.