8.10.10

Revolution

Chapters in my life were once defined by what my life seemed to be revolving around during any given moment.  From a young age, I tightly grasped hobbies and ideas, making them a big part of my life, often becoming obsessions.

  • In elementary school it was math.  I loved math homework.  I attended math camp during the summer.  I did math for fun.
  • Then, skateboarding.  Day and night.  Rain or shine.  I sacrificed a lot of time and energy to get hurt, break some bones, and do some stupid stuff.  I thought it was the cool thing to do of course.
  • Come high school, it was baseball.  I played every season, even during 120 degree summer days in Phx.  I sacrificed other sports such as soccer and swimming to focus on baseball.  I worked at a baseball training facility.  I had baseballs on my bed frame (still do).  I even gave baseballs with my face on them out as 'party favors' at my bar mitzvah (that was before high school, of course).
  • In the beginning of college, after settling down a bit, I guess you could say that I became obsessed with school.  I over studied and over stressed myself during the first couple years.  I thought good marks were all that mattered.
  • Desperate for some balance, I found triathlon.  Swimming, biking, and running was all I cared about for a solid year of my life.  I knew I wasn't particularly fast, but that didn't matter.  Life often revolved around training.
  • I had a realization, asked myself why I cared so much to be competitive, and became obsessed with riding bikes for fun.  Mountain bikes, road bikes, fixies, beach cruisers.  If it had two wheels, I wanted it between my legs.
  • When injured and unable to ride a bike, I quickly embraced art and started painting just about every day.

Now, what? - Yea, I have a bike. I still enjoy running.  I like academics, and baseball is still cool, I guess.  I have started lifting some weights again, like back in the baseball days. I have even forced myself to enjoy reading, and learned to like cooking.  My point is, for the first time in my life, I don't have an 'obsession.'  There is not one thing that dominates, and it feels pretty good.

1/4 of my life was driven by my passion for things rather than for life itself.  I know it may sound like an odd realization, but to me it seems important.  Though it may have been simply brought about by being deprived of my 'real' bikes (my latest 'obsessions'), I am glad nonetheless.

BA-out

1 comment:

  1. worrrd up. i may do this same exercise. i think my list would look pretty similar, minus the math for fun shit...

    ReplyDelete