I took up ice hockey in my mid fifties with no prior experience. I started with lots of skating lessons. I thought I already knew how to skate. I was wrong. After a couple years I started to take some hockey lessons. I had to watch a YouTube video to figure out how to put on the hockey gear. A year or two later I joined an “Old Timers” league. It’s been hard. Psychologically (constantly fight the desire to be good, to not fail, to not look stupid). Physically (it’s demanding on muscles, joints, & your heart) Mentally (so much to learn). But, sometimes it’s “Hello Ghost Dog” (flow state) and every worry you ever had evaporates and time ceases to exist and you’re instantly 10 years old again, playing outside, with the neighborhood kids, hoping the evening light will last just a little longer so you can just keep playing.
Yes! Tapping into more flow states rarely happens when we stay on our mental sofa. I feel like we need to re-negotiate our relationship with effort (the meaningful type), and ask less: "is it easy/hard to do?" and more: "is it worth it?"
I took up ice hockey in my mid fifties with no prior experience. I started with lots of skating lessons. I thought I already knew how to skate. I was wrong. After a couple years I started to take some hockey lessons. I had to watch a YouTube video to figure out how to put on the hockey gear. A year or two later I joined an “Old Timers” league. It’s been hard. Psychologically (constantly fight the desire to be good, to not fail, to not look stupid). Physically (it’s demanding on muscles, joints, & your heart) Mentally (so much to learn). But, sometimes it’s “Hello Ghost Dog” (flow state) and every worry you ever had evaporates and time ceases to exist and you’re instantly 10 years old again, playing outside, with the neighborhood kids, hoping the evening light will last just a little longer so you can just keep playing.
Yes! Tapping into more flow states rarely happens when we stay on our mental sofa. I feel like we need to re-negotiate our relationship with effort (the meaningful type), and ask less: "is it easy/hard to do?" and more: "is it worth it?"
疲れ様