Doing It Your Way StinksI've always
been a one-man show, doing everything on my
own terms, for as long as I can remember. In some ways, it's done me a
lot of
good. But in other
ways, it's been an idiotic waste of time.
I used to try
to fix my motorcycle without reading any
manuals – just twisting screws and yanking on cables. And the
number of times I've screwed up my computer –
let's not even go there! Then I found
yoga. My first
teacher was a noodle of guy about 6 feet, 6
inches tall, and whenever I did anything even slightly off, he'd get
right up
next to my ear and growl: "Stop messing
around and do it like I told you!" As stupid as
it is, I don't like people telling me what to
do. Fundamentally, I just don't like it. How stupid is that? People have
been doing yoga for a zillion years, and yet I
thought I could figure it out on my own! Surprise, surprise, I was a
complete
wreck! Back then it
was hard for me to focus my eyes on one
point, breathe through my nose and press my hands together above my
head all at
the same time (I'm not making this up). More than
once, I fainted in class, and the morning-after,
I'd walk to work with a limp. I put up a
good bull-headed fight, but eventually,
Noodleman beat the independence out of me and opened me up to a whole
new
world, a world where I could piggy-back on the work of other people and
move
ahead 10x or even 20x as fast – at anything! In the yoga
scene, people are always looking for gurus and
sages to follow, but I was just looking for teachers of any kind, and I
looked
everywhere! Yoga geeks in
the park. Nutrition nerds at health food
stores. Fitness buffs in the gym. I didn't care
then, and I don't care now who I learn from
(as long as they're good). I just love to learn. One of my
daily mantras became this: "I don't know
Jack, so today, I'm going to find someone who does." (Very spiritual,
eh?) Where I'm
going with this is that my best quality – my
independence and obsessive nature – is also my worst. And your best
quality
probably stinks sometimes too. Think about
it. Stay bendy, Lucas Note: The good folks at the FTC require me to disclose that I am an affiliate of the companies that manufacture and market the anti aging products you will find on this website, and that these companies will compensate me if you buy any of these products. - Dave Tishendorf |
|
When I was a kid, I used to
spend hours trying to
"invent" a pizza dough recipe in the kitchen, when there were dozens
of great recipes to be had in any bookstore.