Reflections during iceskating

On January 24th, February 5th, 14th and 22th 2015 I have been iceskating.

With more hours spent on the ice rink I am more confident while skating. Also after skating constantly for an hour I am less tired then I was before. It is rare in my case - usually during winter I don't excersise and my stamina is very low at that period. It is the case for a lot of people actually - they stop doing activities during the colder months. It negatively affects their health - they start to gain weight and it is more difficult to lose it afterwards. It we have developed habit of excersising during winter we would prevent some minor diseases like flu because our immune system would be more effective. We would improve our general health and what is more important  - improve our mental well-being. Personally during winter I am more tired and have worse mood than usual. This year I have noticed that after an hour of iceskating I had more energy and I was in much better mood than on regular winter days.

Last time I wrote about my problems with skating on my left leg. Since then I have observed great improvement. At the last session I have maintained proper balance and I was able to skate on both legs without any hesitation. Now I don't even know why it was so difficult for me. I guess the greatest obstacle was in my head - the fear of falling down. When I think about it now it seems so silly of me because it was nothing difficult and even if I had fallen it wouldn't have been a big deal. I wonder how often people are afraid of things which are not really chalenging. They often don't even care to try because failure seems to be so likely. People should take their chances and do their best to achieve the goal. Afterwards probably it would turn out that it was one of the easiest things to do and they would laugh at themselves just as I did.

During one of the sessions on the ice rink there was a women who was practicing figure skating. As I have observed her I was really impressed by her skills. It was obvious that she was doing it with a great passion, that she was doing something she loved. It made me realize how important in life is to keep doing things that give us joy. If we do so we can be more efficient, we can achieve goals while entertaining ourselves. It brightens up one's life - no matter what we do, it can be gardening, playing instruments, painting, running, writing. As long as we are able to do what we love we have purpose in our lives. I wish that someday I will find an activity that will give me such satisfaction and joy, that will make me feel like it is significant and like it matters. Even if it only matters to me. All in all, doing things that we love is about our own wellbeing.

Learning outcomes fulfilled:
- Developing new skills
- Increased awareness of strengths and areas for growth