I have been working late a lot lately. I could blame it on the upcoming holidays and the bleary-eyed mad dash to the finish line of 2011. I could probably blame it on a lot of things. But it doesn’t really matter why exactly; the only point here is that I have been leaving the office somewhere between 7:30 and 9:30 each night for the past week or so.
Right outside my office is an old-fashioned ice rink. It goes up in November, replacing a fountain and outdoor patio, and it stays in place until February. I am always happy to see it arrive because it means the holidays are coming, a time of year I do usually like despite growing up in a family of Scrooges. C’mon Family Reading This, you can’t really deny that, can you?
And then I am always really happy to see it come down because by February I am totally over winter and being cold. Even though there are plenty of cold days around here up until May, the removal of the ice rink is the promise that Spring will be here some day, some time.
Anyway, now the stage has been set so you can picture me trudging out of the office building each night, computer bag over my shoulder (Hey, Little L has his blanket; I feel better if I have my computer at home. Just in case. Stop judging me!).
Most nights, I open the door into the cold to find a high speed, loud game of broom ball (I think that’s what it’s called–I didn’t grow up with or near anything related to ice hockey) being played on the ice. But sometimes, and tonight was one of those nights, there is no broom ball. Some nights there are just kids and families and couples skating around the oval in a sort of awkward but joyful dance. And in the middle of the friends and couples, she is always there.
Bringing it into focus
She is a young woman, probably somewhere in her mid to late teens. She wears a full-on ice skating skirt/dress outfit. And she is out there practicing her turns and twirls. The thing is she falls..a lot. You see, she is not very good. But she clearly loves it. She is out there a couple times a week doing her best and she doesn’t care that no one else is dressed like an ice dancer. And she seems immune to the strange looks she gets. She falls and gets back up. She stumbles and recovers. She keeps going. I know because I was intrigued the first time I noticed her so I always stop and watch for a couple of minutes.
The first time I stayed to watch I thought she’d be good based on her outfit. Now I watch to see her improvement. I secretly cheer her on. I try to will her to land the jump, to gracefully turn without wobbling.
Tonight I decided she was a sign. Maybe not a sign, but more of a symbol. On my way home I was thinking that there is a lot to learn from her. So here’s the list I’ve come up with so far:
1. Always dress for the job you want–not the job you have. Unless of course (purely hypothetically) the job you want is a freelance writer and blogger and the job you have is in a corporate office. In that case, dress for the job you have. But you get my point.
2. It doesn’t matter if you make a mistake. What matters is how you react, how quickly you recover and how willing you are to jump back in.
3. Dance like no one is watching. What would you do if you didn’t care what people thought about you?
4. No one is born knowing how to _____. We all have to start somewhere. Give it a try, whatever it is. And give yourself permission to learn.
5. Self deception is good. Tell yourself you rock. You will start to believe it.
I’m sure this teenager in the pink skating dress and leg warmers did not start skating to inspire some thirty-something worker bee. But she did inspire me. Look around. I bet there is someone you could learn from right outside your door, too.
