| |
Fear
Conquering & Self Defense
From
GypsyNester.com
 |
I must
confess I have anxiety concerning this GypsyNesting stuff.
I have strong ideas about the way I want to live my life,
but by nature I'm not exactly the bravest person around. I'm
a bit of a worrier. Okay, a lot of a worrier. It doesn't help
that half of our family and friends think that this whole
GypsyNesting thing is quite mad.
In order
to alleviate my fears, I have decided to take a self defense
course to fight the urge to cop out and just “grow
old gracefully.” I want to be able to protect myself
in that dark alley that is setting up roadblocks in my mind.
I see huge growth potential here.
|
My friend
Kate is on board with me, which is great, because when Kate gets
on board about something she gets balls-out on board. A close
call in a dimly lit parking lot last summer gives her more incentive.
Her husband, a karate guy, knows of a class at his gym, so she
signs us up.
Our class
instructor is Alda--beautiful, slight, middle-aged. My first reaction
is “gimme a break with this women?even I could kick her butt.”
We start off with some breathing exercises and Alda tells us that
the first line of defense for any women is to run away. This makes
perfect sense to me?by nature I'm not a hitter, I'm a runner.
We work on body awareness, muscle memory and strengthening exercises.
We talk about trusting our instincts and keeping our cool. This
is good, this is very “me.” I'm comfortable with this.
But this Alda
chick is a wily one--as the classes progress I'm finding out some
surprising (and slightly disturbing) things about myself. After
throwing Kate to the mat in a rape-simulating maneuver, I find
myself looking down at her in stunned confusion. Prior to this
exercise, Alda had told us to use the momentum of the maneuver
to spring to our feet and then run like crazy. This is not what
my adrenaline-charged brain and body want to do at all. All I
want to do is rush at my fictitious rapist and kick him in the
face. How DARE he treat me like a victim! Luckily for Kate, I
absolutely adore her and I ultimately decide that kicking her
in the face is not the nice thing to do. I have manners, after
all.
Being the
card-carrying, militant pacifist (wimp) that I am, it is a total
shock to me that I can have such a violent reaction to a circumstance
that would normally turn me into a puddle of melted Jello. This
is not the growth I expected. Honestly, I didn't know I had it
in me. It rocks, actually.
More importantly,
in terms of growth, I am more confident about trying new things,
being in new environments and stepping outside of my comfort zone.
These are the gifts I most prize from the experience. And I don't
need to be afraid to kick a little butt if I need to.
But Kate may
want to reconsider having me as a sparring partner.
David & Veronica,
GypsyNester.com
|
|
del.icio.us
