Thursday 14 November 2013

Cart wheels

I have promised my daughter I'll teach her how to do cartwheels tomorrow. The only problem is, I haven't done a cartwheel in well over 30 years. I'm old, unfit and a little brittle-feeling in the bones. When I wanted to hang upside down from the monkey bars a few years back, it took me ages to get the courage to let go.

I used to be able to do it. Easily. Not now.

And I feel the same about the cart wheels. I'm scared I'll go smashing face first into the ground.
Or dislocating my shoulder like a friend of mine, when she tried to do one with her kid.

Why is that? Why, as we age, do we get scared of what we used to do all the time without giving it a second thought? Shouldn't we use that experience and memory to make us confident? This seems to be a huge flaw in human design.

So, I'm putting it on the list, so I have no option to chicken out. Will selfie from hospital should that eventuate.

Thus, the current list now reads:

Torshlusspanik List:


1. Shooting (check)
2. Fencing (check)
3. Play croquet at Croquet Club
4. Laser skeet
5. Off road buggy driving
6. Play Assassins Creed
7. Jetpacking (check)
8. The Color Run (check)
9. Invent something
10. Cooking Masterclass (check)
11. Master a Masterclass (check)
12. Perform a rap song (check)
13. Trampoline adventure (check)
14. BMX Riding (check)
15. Do a cart wheel.

Linking up with Grace for FYBF.



18 comments:

  1. Good Luck! Just yesterday I was scared to show my son how to use the rope swing in our backyard - yet when I was younger I wouldn't have given it a second thought!!
    PS - apart from crashing into the side of the cubby, I did survive!

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    1. And yet crashing into the cubby is what makes that a good story...always remember the story!

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  2. That is a great question and one I can't answer but I wish I could. When I think of how confident I used to be about so many things and how unsure I have become as I got older, it makes me angry that I have let those good qualities disappear out of my life.
    Good luck with the cart wheel - will send flowers if you do land up in hospital - and a wombat !
    Have the best fun tomorrow !
    Me

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    1. It makes me sad (and curious) rather than angry, but we do, for some bizarre reason, let 'those good qualities disappear out of our lives'

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  3. Well I couldn't do a cartwheel even 30 years ago I'm afraid, so I'm extremely unlikely to be able to pull one off now. I am very impressed by the number of items on your list, Lydia, that you've checked-off. Jet packing? Did I miss the post on that one?

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    1. Jetpacking is AWESOME! (Tho I was kinda crap at it) http://pandoraandmax.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/someday-maybe-you-can-jetpack-adventures.html

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  4. Somersaults on the floor I can manage but the thought of a cartwheel grips me with terror. How would I explain my injuries at the emergency room?

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    1. yes, it's good to guide your behaviour by how it would look in the newspapers...I swear by that!

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  5. YOU TUBE! I have been using it to try and teach my kids to do them. I have not had much luck.

    Good luck.

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  6. Oh gosh, there are so many things I used to be able to do well that I fear now. I'd been asked to play soccer again, I was good at it, but there's no way I'd be able to do it now, same with softball or even throwing and catching a ball for that matter!

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  7. I know!
    I wish you all the luck in the world and hope that you surprise yourself with an amazing cartwheel and you feel fabulous doing it (and after..)

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  8. You can usually find any 'how -to-teach' video on YouTube and that's a language of today ...or you could make the cartwheel video ...just a thought :))

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    1. I think I would be mortified if I could actually see my lack of prowess for myself - in my head it's not as bad as it probably is...

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  9. I love that you acknowledge that 'things' aren't what they use to be. Anyway, Laurie Lawrence hardly ever got wet and he coached the Aussie swim team! Maybe lots of leg holding and encouragement from the sidelines ;o)

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    1. Nah, once on the list, I'm committed. No backing out!

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  10. All the best with the Cart Wheel, no idea why we get so scared of doing things that we used to be able to do without blinking an eye!
    I used to love Ballet and Tap Dancing, yet now I wouldn't have any idea how to do either :)
    I guess we "grow out" of doing something, kinda like riding a bike - it takes a bit to get used to riding after not being on a bike for sometime but once we get used to it its fun again :)

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  11. Lydia - I taught our Miss Yin to cartwheel, but that was a few years ago. There is a strange feeling of your insides upside down - I think that is what is most uncomfortable as an adult - but it does feel liberating too. Of course Miss Yin now cartwheels, flips, walks-over and generally runs rings around me - makes me realise how we do sacrifice that sense of anything is possible when we get older after fighting and being brave to prove it when we are younger - as you say, a flaw in human design.

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  12. Oh Lydia I just wrote the most amusing comment and lost it in the sign on ... I was basically saying how I think often our spirited are willing but the flesh (or my old sorry bones) are weak.id love to do a cartwheel but I find the thump down just a bit too jarring ... And teeth rattling ... Good on u for your list!

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