M2M Day 110: This is the most amazing feeling
This post is part of Month to Master, a 12-month accelerated learning project. For February, my goal is to land a backflip.
Yesterday, I left my backflip lesson pumped full of adrenaline and feeling amazing. In fact, I felt more accomplished yesterday than I did on any of the previous 108 days of my Month to Master project.
The reason for this feeling of accomplishment: Fear.
During the first three challenges of Month to Master (cards, drawing, Rubik’s Cube), even though I had to work hard, I always felt in control. Backflipping has been different.
The physical skill of backflipping is fairly straightforward. In fact, I’d argue that it’s one of the easier skills on my list of challenges, mechanically. However, the skill also comes with a healthy dose of crippling fear, which makes things a little less straightforward.
Yesterday, for the first time, even though my mind was screaming for me not to, I committed to flipping backwards without any safety mechanism (except for the occasional shirt-holding by Elijah).
As I continued throwing backflip after backflip, the voice in my head slowly quieted, and the fear retreated into the background.
By the time I left AcroSports, I couldn’t stop smiling. The chemicals in my brain were going crazy. Overcoming this fear was like unlocking a secret room in my brain that I didn’t know I had.
It was the best feeling.
Unquestionably, yesterday was my favorite day of Month to Master so far (The second best day was the moment when I realized I had successfully memorized a deck of cards in less than two minutes).
I can’t wait for my next backflip lesson. I want to experience these feelings again…
Read the next post. Read the previous post.