Roller Derby Girls Have No Fear

So there is a new roller derby league that is getting started up in the area, and I decided to join.  I'm not entirely sure why...I just know that from the moment I heard about it, I was interested.  Something about it sounded like something I wanted to do.  I can't even properly put words to it.  They had an informational meeting awhile back, and I kinda wanted to go, but I wasn't sure if I would "fit in" and I was a little scared.  That meeting must have went pretty well because a short time later a friend sent me an invite on facebook to an event they were having to show people about derby and recruit members into the newly formed league.  It seemed pretty open and inviting, so I went.  From the moment I tried on a pair of skates and proceeded gingerly around the track (fell once....), I knew I wanted to do it.

I'm sure my announcement to friends and family that I was going to play roller derby was a little surprising to some.  This is a full contact sport with blocking, hitting, and crashing.  The risk of injury is high...required gear includes helmet, knee and elbow pads, wrist guards and a mouth guard.  I have never done anything remotely dangerous enough to warrant a mouth guard!!  This is another one of those things that I would have wanted to do 5 years ago but would have been too scared to try.  Yet somehow I found myself two days ago with all that gear on, skates on my feet, participating in a full out roller derby practice led by what I am told is one of the best skaters in the UP.   And that was how I really knew I had grown in the last few years. I jumped into that practice with ZERO experience, and I just gave it my all.  The reason I didn't play sports growing up was that I was afraid to try stuff and fail.  And I certainly didn't try stuff that I didn't know how to do in the middle of a group of people I didn't know!  That moment struck me at one point during the practice and I had kind of and out of body experience.   I looked around and saw myself surrounded by people I had just met, doing things I was totally unfamiliar with, and I realized how far I have come.  Nobody I know may appreciate that fact more than me, other than perhaps my mother, but I am pretty proud of myself.

Me....first time on skates in 20 years

So the obvious moral of this story is, "don't be afraid to try new things," but it is more than that.  If you're like me and fear has held you back from really living and trying the things that you really want to do, I challenge you to let that go a little bit and put yourself out there.  It has taken me a LONG time to get here, but now that I am, I can see that it is totally worth it.  And when you do take those risks and step outside your comfort zone, take a moment to appreciate that.  Being afraid to do something and then doing it anyway is tough...give yourself credit!!!!  You deserve it!

So now matter what you're afraid to do....whether it be start working out, trying a new workout, getting involved in a new sport, talking to people you don't know (another one of my big ones!!!), examine your fear.  What EXACTLY are you afraid of (failure, injury, rejection?), and then consider the what ifs.  What if you fail, get injured, or rejected?  What I finally realized was that if any of those things happened, so what?  Maybe I'll suck at roller derby.   And I might very possibly get injured.  I don't know yet, but when I thought about it, I was willing to take those risks in order to avoid the regret 10 years from now.  Sitting around thinking, "I remember when they started roller derby and I wanted to try it.  Really wish I had." I have enough of those regrets....I don't need anymore.

All right....get out there and make the most of your day!!!!

Sarah :)