What do you do just because it makes you happy?
I often times find myself in awe of this 11 -year-old. She is my middle, between two boys, and she is constantly my teacher. All my kids are constantly teaching me, but this one, she really got to me with an essay she wrote explaining why she is proud of sticking with gymnastics.
In her essay she wrote “I wasn’t the highest level gymnast or the best in my group, but I did it because I loved it. In my opinion, passion always comes before skill, and I was passionate about gymnastics so I devoted a lot of time and effort into it. I was willing to work hard and get better, and give all my time to it because I loved it. I didn’t care about my level. All that mattered to me was that I loved doing it, and it made me happy."
Wow – I found myself crying as I read her words. For years I had been trying to get her to change to a different activity because I saw she was not good at gymnastics and wasn’t going to go anywhere with it. I felt like a horrible mother as I read this essay and realized I cared more about how good she was then she did. She knew what really mattered. I was focused on completely the wrong thing. Yet again, she is teaching me.
Imagine being able to do something just because you love it no matter how good you are at it. To have the dedication to get better just for the sake of getting better and being happy.
My wish is we all have activities in our lives we do because we love them. Activities we do not because we are good at them or because we are trying to get someplace, but simply because they make us happy. That we all follow my daughter’s advice that passion should always come before skill.