Walking Mosaics

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about how I’m learning how to golf and I’m not good at it, but I’m enjoying learning how to play.

This morning while I was struggling on the stair master, I realized I was enjoying that too. I used to get vertigo and anxiety on the stair master. It would make me feel disoriented, and those steps just keep coming and they don’t stop coming! But when my trainer told me that I was going to get on there for about 6-7 minutes at the end of a workout a couple of weeks ago, I begrudgingly did what I was told to do. I was surprised how much I didn’t mind it. I was also struck by what a good workout it was…and I found myself wanting to try again and add more minutes.

About a year ago, I thought about learning how to make matcha. So, I bought some powder and confidentially added my water and let me tell you, it was absolutely disgusting. I want you to imagine walking outside, grabbing a handful of fresh grass, blending it up with some water and gulping it down. It was sick! But I got hit with an Instagram ad that looked compelling recently…I know, I know…but I tried a new brand and a new method being careful to strain the powder and add water that was warm but not hot and thoroughly whisking. I added some almond milk, sweetener, and a little creamer, and it was pretty good! Not great but pretty good, and I think I can get better at it.

This post isn’t an ad for matcha or the stair master. It’s also not an ads for golf. But what I do want to convey to you is that I’m learning that just because you didn’t like something 10 years ago or even 6 months ago, doesn’t mean you won’t like it now. I mean don’t get me wrong, I’m still very much disinterested in jet skis and can’t stand the flavor of most fish, but I could change and evolve into someone who later liked those things.

And I think that’s pretty cool. Someone told me they heard a man who had been married for many years explain his secret to staying happily married to the same woman. He explained, “I’ve not been married to the same woman. I’ve been married to a different woman every 3-4 years. She continues to change and reinvent herself, and I get to know and love these new versions of her.”

I think that’s beautiful. It’s beautiful to think that we can love new versions of ourselves and love new versions of the people in our lives too. There is something life-giving about having the freedom to grow and change.

Maybe we don’t get one beautiful life but a series of beautiful little lives that together form a sort of mosaic. There are stormy pieces and blue skies too but when you step back and look at all of it together, it’s a full life and a pretty grand one too.

So, whatever summer brings you, I hope it brings you the freedom to try again, expand, explore.

Because at the end of the day, we are all walking mosaics, and I think that’s pretty magical.