I’m an avid fan of Parkour and free running. For those of you who don’t know what that is, well just go to you tube and look it up. I tend to free run/parkour whenever I have the chance, minus the flips cause I don‘t want to break my neck. I’ll break it down into simple math for you. Extreme + dangerous + fun + adrenaline = parkour. When I started doing this awesome activity I started slowly adding a new rule to my life. It is jump first and think about it when it’s over. Now I’m not saying go jump off a building and hope that you live because that isn‘t what it is about. Parkour is about testing yourself and reaching your physical limit. Bottom line is I’m a risk taker. Here is where the life lesson comes in.
People are so afraid to take a risk nowadays. Remember when you were a kid? How carefree you were? You felt invincible right? What happened when we got older? Why are we so afraid of bad things happening that we sit on a couch watching tv wondering what could have happened if we just took that chance, if we just said what we felt. Here is where it all mixes together.
Parkour and free running are a lot like life. There are times when your going to try something new and it is going to scare the crap out of you. You‘re going to reach a point in which you are staring at a wall that you know you can get over, but your not sure about how your going to land. It isn’t whether you land on your feet or on your butt, the real learning experience is taking the risk and learning from it knowing that you at least tried. Story time!!!!
It was my first time attempting parkour and I’m staring at this gap. My jumping point was six feet higher then the part I was landing on and the distance was about eight feet. Doesn’t seem like much now, but I was scared out of my mind. I had chickened out two times already and before I had the chance to talk myself out of it the third time I ran full speed to the edge and went for it. I hit the ground quickly tucking my body in so I could roll into a run. It was awesome and now I handle it like I’ve done it all my life.
I had been in practice for a long time noticing a lot of problems. Sitting back I wished someone would stand up and talk about what was going wrong. I waited a little while longer hoping that it wouldn’t have to be me. Practice is over and I’m walking away wondering how things could have gone if someone had stood up and said something. The next day practice starts again. I notice the same problems and decide to confront them. Practice ends and I talk to the leaders. Amazed at my willingness to bring the problems up they begin to work to make things better. Those problems are now getting solved.
Both of these stories are true. While every instance of my life hasn’t worked out like these two stories did, I’m happy to say that I have no regrets about trying something new. You have the choice; sit around wondering what could have been, or do something and watch it happen in front of you.
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