How Throwing an Ax Can Unleash Your Inner Warrior
Finding Your Fierce Inside Your Fun
I hope my bucket list is never boring.
I do love a new experience. How could I resist when I saw an ad for ax-throwing?
I was already going to the city to look at my photo reveal for a boudoir shoot I’d had the previous week (another interesting bucket list item that I highly recommend- for men and women). This ax-throwing bar (yes, they serve alcohol) was just down the street. It was fate!
Or maybe I should blame Helen Russell. I was busy reading Gone Viking, and ax-throwing fit right in. In fact, it couldn’t be more in tune with what I was currently enjoying in book form. Plus, it sounded like a lot of fun.
I can’t lie: I also had a couple people royally piss me off during the week, and throwing an ax sounded cathartic.
And as a former therapist, you don’t need to tell me that catharsis isn’t actually therapeutic. But it feels therapeutic nonetheless. And fun. Like a batting cage with sharp weaponry.
My ex expressed a little, understandable, concern about my keen interest. As well he should. But I booked the session, drafted a friend who was eager to heave hatchets at targets, and headed into Atlanta.
After seeing a slideshow of my shoot followed by an actual music video of none other than me, I was feeling pretty spectacular. I’d had a professional makeup artist and photographer make me look incredibly fierce, and then I was going to get to throw around some axes. My inner goddess was smiling, and my inner warrior was ready to go.
First, let me just say that ax-throwing is just as fun as it sounds if you think it sounds like a good time.
Since it was all of noon, I skipped the alcohol aspect of the experience. But I did learn how to throw an ax one-handed and two-handed. I hit the target a satisfying number of times and said an incredible number of curse words when I missed. It was great. And my inner warrior was unleashed.
There was just a surge of power at heaving an ax at a target and hearing the satisfying thwunk as it sunk into the board. Even when it missed, it wasn’t an unsatisfying experience. My arms ached but in the satisfying way of a solid workout. In fact, my only complaint is that they made it into a competition rather than just letting us hurl axes at the target for fun.
If none of this sounds like fun for you, that’s okay, too. There are a lot of ways to unleash our inner warrior. Think paintball. Or laser tag. Or a mud run. An obstacle course like the Spartan race.
Any activity that challenges us to get outside our comfort zone and be in the moment doing something active is liable to unlock that inner fierce warrior spirit.
It feels like empowerment and pride that our bodies can do a thing we thought we couldn’t do, even if we don’t do it well.
It’s the trying that matters. The warrior spirit doesn’t even have to include a sense of competition; it just needs to challenge us and make us feel like we’ve grown in some way. It can bring out a side of us we often keep on a leash. Maybe it’s the Viking spirit that Russell talks about in her book, or maybe it’s just letting ourselves be a little wild rather than keeping ourselves tame.
By the time I was heaving axes at a target, I wasn’t even doing it to get out anger. It wasn’t about that anymore. I felt comfortable in my own skin and empowered to try something new. I’d worn plaid for that lumberjack-chic look, and I was happy to be exactly where I was doing exactly what I was doing. It was a mindfulness experience and a chance to try something that sounded a little badass.
Or maybe it’s just the joy of hitting a target we were aiming at, or trying to. I just know that I wielded an ax, hurled it at a target, and felt that warrior spirit in me. She doesn’t get a chance to come out and play often. I think I’d like to see more of her.
I want to go back and improve my ax-throwing prowess. But I also signed up for a warrior run. And maybe later this year or next, I’ll jump out of a plane in a tandem dive. I’ll do some things that challenge me and make me feel good, even if I’m not good at them all or if they don’t turn out to be what I thought.
My inner warrior came out like she was just waiting to be called. I wonder sometimes what else is in me that’s just waiting to be acknowledged. I look at my bucket list and adjust accordingly.
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