The Power of Looking Like an Idiot ;)

This past weekend I took a Slackline Yoga class for the first time. The National Whitewater Center here in Charlotte has this *incredible festival every year with 4 days of Yoga, Climbing, Music, Rafting, Races, and a whole bunch of other things. And Slackline Yoga was one of the classes they offered and I was so excited to take it (we also did Acro Yoga…you can take a look at a pic of us below;)! If you don’t know what Slacklining is (I didn’t before a few years ago), it’s basically like a tightrope, just thicker. And in this case, a LOT lower to the ground;) I’ve played around with it before when I lived in LA…there’s a Slackline community in Venice Beach and I’d go down there and play around on the lines on the beach with the group.

The thing I love about Slackline is that you’re just gonna look like an idiot. Guaranteed. When you’re just starting out learning how to walk the line, 99% of the time your foot shakes, shakes, shakes on the line and bobbles back and forth like you’re having convulsions (which feels really weird). And you’re gonna fall. Guaranteed. Even if you’re a seasoned, experienced Slackliner, you’re gonna fall. And you’re going to be *constantly* adjusting to find balance and stay on the line.

As a recovering Perfectionist, the prospect of looking like an idiot, falling off the line, and not knowing how to do everything…you got it, perfectly…used to be terrifying. It came as a pleasant surprise to me that this time…I was actually excited about it!!!! “Yeah!! I’m gonna fall off, I’m gonna look like an idiot, I’m gonna shake…other people will probably experience the same kinds of things…and it’s gonna be glorious!” And it was! We all laughed at ourselves and at each other. We all surprised ourselves with what we could do and sometimes with things that were harder than we thought they would be. We all challenged ourselves to do things that toed the line of our comfort zone and expanded our vision of what’s possible.

And the big takeaway for me is that I’m actually OKAY with looking like an idiot. It’s okay that I’m *not perfect at it.

The underlying message here is one of Self-Love. Bring this into your everyday life in every moment. If you notice a thought you’re having that you’d rather not have or a feeling you’d rather not feel or find yourself doing something you didn’t mean to do or…looking like an idiot…be kind to yourself and love and appreciate it for what it is. A beautiful experience. An integral part of our life here. Whatever the experience may be. And love, love, love yourself for having the experience. *That’s* unconditional love!

Okay, so I don’t look like an idiot here but I didn’t have any pictures of falling off of the Slackline! I promise I’ll post one at some point on Insta and FB;)