Dear Hivers, Have a wonderful day!
Join me as I reminisce about my activities when I was younger.
I was a consistent honor student from elementary school until college. I was an athlete from elementary school until high school. I played volleyball, softball, basketball, and table tennis. My regular exposure to the sun gave me a dark skin color.
In elementary school, we always participated in the yearly Milo Sports Tournament, and our school consistently won as the champion. Upon graduation, I placed in the top 10 and received the Best in Sports award.
Little did I know that I would be enrolling in high school at one of our rival schools. So, I transferred from a Catholic school to a non-sectarian school. The athletes from the latter school identified me as the most demanding Catholic player.
Luckily, I managed to be part of the top 10 in class and was still active in sports, even in military government. From my first year to my fourth year in high school, I experienced military training, ultimately rising to the position of Deputy Battalion Commander.
My active involvement earned me the Highest Award for Service, Leadership, and Efficiency.
Life in elementary and high school was full of competition, but because I kept getting high grades and winning, those years were also full of praise.
Despite my lack of computer experience in high school, I was able to secure admission to the country's top business and computer school for college.
I checked to see if I could take another course, but the head refused my admission, stating that my math grades qualified me for the computer science course. So I tried!
My university was located in another province, so in my whole first year in college, I felt homesick, plus I could not understand our topics in computer programming.
Imagine that during the first semester of the first year, we were already tasked with doing computer games! I was shocked! Every day, I would pester my cousins and nephews to call my dad and convince him to bring me back to our hometown.
Every morning and every night, I would charge a long-distance call to our hometown and talk to anyone, even the houseboy, so long as I could feel at home. It even came to a point when our monthly bill reached 11,000 pesos because of my long-distance calls.
So, fast forward: I failed computer programming during the first semester. I cried rivers of tears!!! That was my first failure in life, I thought! It was the first disappointment I gave my dad. Haha! The university's one-year residency requirement per student prevented me from switching to another course, despite my eagerness to do so. So, for the entirety of my first year, I was adjusting to the computer geeks, the course, and the environment. I forgot about sports!
When I shifted to another course, I became a consistent dean’s lister and gained my confidence again. I considered joining the varsity volleyball team, but when I saw the tryout, I knew I could not participate because everyone wore shorts, exposing most legs! So, I just focused on studying until I finished college.
I knew I made my parents proud, but I regretted, in my heart, having forgotten sports.
After graduation, I encountered numerous other setbacks and challenges. I couldn't follow my dream of becoming a lawyer; I faced widowhood, had to accept an unsatisfactory job, experienced the loss of my dad, my job, and then my mom. These things stuck with me.
My grieving never stopped. I went through an on-and-off depression and had a sedentary lifestyle. I felt paralyzed, weak, and old.
But, to be honest, these adversities introduced me to myself. I have highly developed my emotional intelligence. I learned to empty my cup, step back, internalize, and rebound higher.
As I always welcomed pain along my journey, I also learned the importance of healing, growing, glowing, discovering, accepting, learning, unlearning, releasing, and improving all at once. I know now that I have evolved.
Last year, as I embarked on my rebirth phase, I encountered and found inspiration in the old, young, fat, thin, and shy ladies enrolled in EVOLVE, the first pole and aerial fitness center in my town.
Looking at the students’ determination and courage in executing the problematic tricks and finishing a phase, I knew I wanted to do aerial yoga, too. Because I was an athlete before, I knew I could do what they were doing, and seeing them reawakened my love for sports.
Aerial yoga is a creative and innovative way of performing yoga tricks on either a pole, sling, silk, or hoop. I decided to get into it because of its benefits to my mental, emotional, and physical health.
Fellow Hivers, I am 45, and aerial yoga is now my sport! It tones my body, firms and strengthens my muscles, develops my flexibility, and makes me feel as if I am only in my 30s.
