Take A Chance

Cristina Munoz

There’s something ridiculously embarrassing about taking up a new hobby as an adult. Recognising that there is something you want to try is the easy part. A quiet thought in your mind saying it would be cool if you could do that.

Putting it into action is harder.

There’s an endless supply of excuses.

I’ll never be as good as someone who started when they were young…

I’ll be so bad at it, everyone will be better than me…

I don’t have enough time, I’m too busy…

But what would happen if you did try?

Well, I can only speak for myself. Let me tell you what happened this year.

I always thought in the back of my mind that it would be cool to learn a martial art. For years I never did anything about it, because of the ‘reasons’ above. But this year, I figured, why not?

I may never be as good as someone who started when they were a child. But that doesn’t matter when you’re not trying to be the best. I mean, I don’t want to make a career out of this, I don’t need to be the best, I don’t need to be better at it than other people. I just want to try it for fun. To see what it’s actually like, and to be able to do something that I’ve never been able to do before. And if I start today, I’ll already be a little bit better tomorrow. And for me, that’s reason enough to try.

And of course, the first step is usually the hardest. After the first time, everything is a little easier. I attended my first martial arts class, met the instructors, and found out how the class was run. It was definitely easier to go back for the second class. But after the first step, I had a new challenge: being bad at it. It didn’t come as a surprise. I had never done anything like a martial art before, so of course I was going to be bad at it. One day, I found myself in a strange and ridiculous situation where I could not mimic the movements of the instructors. It looked so simple and easy when they did it, and yet I spent a solid five minutes swinging my arms around in a way that I had never done before. A way that was completely wrong. The movements were just so alien to me and I couldn’t figure it out. I knew it, the instructors knew it, and anyone else in the class who saw me would know it (although they were too focused on their own movements to notice). But it was beautiful. Because I can’t think of any other situation in my life where it’s so ok to be so bad at something. I didn’t have to hide it, or feel ashamed, because everyone knew that I was a beginner. And it felt so liberating to have other people acknowledge that I was completely clueless, and that it didn’t matter.

And since I was there to learn, an instructor helped me correct my arm movements, and now I can look back at how I was in the beginning, and see the progress I’ve made. Which makes me smile a little, and glow on the inside, and is reason enough for me to make time in my week for this. Even when I feel like I’m busy and don’t have enough time. Because it gives me something to look forward to, to practise, and get better at. And I think there’s something powerful about making time for this thing that I enjoy in my week. It’s a way to listen to myself and honour my wants. Acknowledge that I am a person outside of studying and work, and a way to choose myself. It’s definitely worth the time investment. There’s something transformative and powerful about taking up a new hobby. It’s the flipside of how ridiculously embarrassing it is. But you know what? That’s all part of the fun. When else in your life can you enjoy being terrible at something, knowing that it’s ok, and you’ll get better?

Art by Jasmin Small