Capoeira

"Oh cool, I should do that one day."

"Hmm, maybe I should look into that."

"I gotta try that!"

Have you ever noticed how many times you say you're going to try something but never do it?  You're involved in a cool conversation and you find yourself thinking "Wow, I wanna do that."  But you walk away from the discussion already deciding that you'll probably never do it.  It's just something nice to think about.  You make up excuses for why you can't.  Your schedule doesn't allow it.  You don't have enough money.  You can't find a sitter.  Sometimes the reasons you can't are really valid reasons.  And sometimes?  Sometimes they're just excuses.  Well, I'm pretty notorious for making excuses.  Finally a friend of mine kind of cornered me and I couldn't come up with any reasons.  So I did it.

My friend Daniel sometimes talks about his son's Capoeira class and how much fun it is.  I've heard about the Brazilian martial art.  It's incredible- really something that moves you when you watch it.  Capoeira is a martial art that combines fighting, music and dancing.  There's a lot of history behind it and is pretty popular today.  So while listening to Daniel talk about it one day, I said "Man, I gotta look into signing Caden up for a class."  And WHAM.  As soon as the words left my mouth, Daniel already had a response, "Cool, well there's a special right now where the first month is free and if you like it you can sign up for a permanent place in the class."  Uh.... did I really mean it when I said it?

To make a long story short, after a few "Maybe another time" lies, Daniel's wife gave me a discount card and told me exactly where the class is.  I was scheduled to work a late shift the day of class so Daniel said, "I'll switch with you.  Take Caden to the class."

We went last night.  We loved it.  Why was I so hesitant in the first place?  Because I get stuck in my comfort zone, my daily routine.  One more new thing requires a new change to my schedule.  I am pretty darn introverted so I hate new activities that involve being with other people.  But last night I remembered that it's not always about me.  Caden had a blast!  Why wouldn't I want to get him into a class that was different from regular school playtime? 

I guess what I learned out of this is this:  It is healthy and OK to step out of your comfort zone and do something that you think would be fun.  Instead of sitting around thinking how much you wish you could do XYZ, get out and do it.

Caden's teacher told me that Caden will do very well in the class.  She said he is physically strong and agile and will be just fine.  I'm glad I was almost FORCED to step out of my routine to let my little guy learn something new and fun.