I really love to ice skate, and I'm not terrible at it, either. I'd be better if there were a rink in my town, but there isn't. Today, though, I skated because I was in Knoxville, which has a rink.
It got me thinking. Ice skating is one of the very few things I've perservered at. Most of the things people tend to think are my big accomplishments-getting published, getting good grades, getting high test scores--are not such a big deal. I mean, they are still really awesome and important, but these are accomplishments in areas that come naturally to me. I've always been good with words and my schoolwork has always come easily.
Ice skating well is, however, quite possibly the achievement I am proudest of, despite its seeming insignificance. Why? Because it was so, so hard and embarrassing at first. I am far from being a natural athlete. The first time I went ice skating since being pushed around the rink a few times as a small child was in late 2006. I went with my friends and fell over twenty times in an hour and a half session without letting go of the wall! I was, to say the least, terrible.
But there was something about it I loved and, despite the embarassment, I've been going back whenever I get the chance since then, and, wow, have I improved. I can skate fast. I can skate steadily, I can turn and avoid falling (if I fall at all, it's a bad session for me, as usually now I don't) and actually turn my head or look straight ahead and I don't flail my arms and I can keep my head up and back straight. In short, I can actually ice skate, which is nothing short of a miracle for me as I'm the least natural athlete ever.
Why? There's certainly no talent involved. It's sweat and hard work and passion for something that is so incredibly out of character for me, but one of my criteria for choosing a college is that there must be an ice rink within a reasonable distance! Ice skating is my biggest achievement because not one bit of it has ever come easily or naturally.