Stop Going to the Bathroom!
About three years ago when I had started down the path of getting a life I made a list of things I’d like to learn. Doing a handstand was at the top of the list.
There were lots of reasons I wanted to learn to do a handstand but the most important was that when I imagined myself doing a handstand a thrill of excitement rushed through my body and my life felt more expansive. That sensation is my higher self’s way of screaming YES! DO IT!
I had no idea how I would learn to do a handstand but my higher self always points me in the right direction so I had faith.
Shortly after putting this item on my list I started attending an Anusara- Inspired yoga class (also on my list) with an amazing instructor at my favorite Yoga studio. About halfway into the class the instructor announced that we would be moving into inversions.
Inversions?
Wonder what that is?
It didn’t take long to realize inversion meant handstand.
Gah! I don’t know how to do inversions! Was the only thought rolling around in my brain.
I noticed a woman conveniently head to the bathroom. I thought about joining her. Then I realized I was being offered the opportunity I had asked for – to learn to do a handstand.
I knew right then and there if I headed to the bathroom I might as well kiss my dream of doing a handstand goodbye. There was no better time then the present and if I chickened out now I’d just keep chickening out. Chickening out can become a bad habit. I didn’t need another bad habit.
I stayed.
I listened carefully as the instructor offered those of us newbies some “modifications” to doing a full handstand. Even the modifications seemed daunting.
But I gave it a try. And you know what?
I fell flat on my head…with my shirt sitting scrunched up above my bra…and my belly rolls hanging out for all the world to see.
What? Did you think I was going to tell you I magically flew up into a handstand?
No way! That is not how learning works. Learning is a process.
I returned the next week and you know what happened? Yup. Pretty much the same thing. But each week I returned. Over time I eventually got better and one day, about six months later I did fly up into a handstand.
It was even better than I had dreamed.
And something even bigger than simply being able to do a handstand happened. A goal that had once seemed impossible became very possible. And making the impossible possible is also habit forming (but in the good way.)
Doing the impossible is not easy like chickening out but the high you get from doing the impossible is way better.
Since then I’ve been presented with opportunities to do something I once thought was impossible. Each opportunity put me at risk for falling on my head with my shirt up over my bra. Each opportunity presented me with the opportunity to chicken out – “to go to the bathroom.”
Guess which option I choose?
Heck yeah – I chose the impossible! Because that is my new habit.
I’ll be honest there are times where choosing falling on my head over the bathroom feels really difficult. There are times when silently backing out of the room of opportunity and finding the little girl’s door to safety feels so compelling I can almost taste it.
But I don’t.
I know the cost of “going to the bathroom.” Going to the bathroom is safe but it is not exciting. Going to the bathroom is what keeps me in place when I want to grow. Going to the bathroom keeps me small and I like to feel big.
So here is my challenge for you…
Write a list of things you want to learn or do. If learning a certain skill or doing something new gets you all giddy inside when you think about it – put it on the list!
Desiring it will start to call those opportunities to your doorstep. When the opportunity arrives let me know how you handle it. Are you willing to fall on your head or do you go to the bathroom?
I bet you fall on your head. You are just that cool!
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