Post
by mtoolan » 23 Apr 2021 09:34
Hey, all, it's been a minute. Grad school has been kicking my ass, but in a good way if that makes sense. I'm busy and stressed all the time but in a way that is kind of invigorating as long as I'm getting enough sleep. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately depending on how you think about it, I haven't been very motivated to kick at all. In fact, most of the time I feel like doing almost anything else when I have the time to exercise. I know that sounds like I'm about to disappear again, but I think it's a good thing, though we'll have to see how I come out on the other side of it. I'm definitely in the middle of some sort of transition in my footbag life.
Worlds honestly has me a bit stressed out. On the one hand, online worlds is an incredibly rare opportunity for me to compete on a worldwide stage and to give back to the community that's given so much to me, and I should be taking full advantage of it. On the other hand, I'm in a weird stage in my game where I'm becoming less and less interested in the style of playing that is needed to make competing worth my time. Staying guiltless no longer interests me, and I've been steadily moving away from a lot of the standard stuff I've been doing for almost two decades. This is for a number of reasons, but the most important are 1) at 31, my body is telling me those moves aren't as mechanically appropriate as they used to be, and 2) re-honing those same tricks and concepts over and over has put me in a very small creative box at a time where the creative side of footbag is really all I care about. I feel some level of obligation to compete in as many events as I can, but I know that I certainly don't have the time to make that worthwhile, and with the time I do have, I don't want to spend it trying to solidify all the same old things. So with all that in mind, I've decided that I'll compete in routines alone. Shred off, sick 3, and shred 30 style events have never been my thing, and I see no sense in continuing to force it.
With all that in mind, the 4 or 5 times I have kicked in the last two months have been mostly enjoyable, particularly when the weather cooperates. And aside from footbag I've been enjoying all manner of physical activities like kayaking, hiking, rock climbing, and yoga. I feel like I'm living a very rich life in some ways. I'm lucky to have a diverse group of interests and the ability to choose whatever strikes me as most fun at any given time. This seems to be the prevailing trend in my life, where I'd rather be halfway decent at many things than totally proficient at only one thing. I've heard that sentiment from many people in the footbag community, though I know some prefer a different approach.
Anyhow, life is good at the moment. My semester is winding down, we're both fully vaccinated and settling in to our new place and loving it, I'm starting to get the logistical ball rolling for my field season in Utah (June/July), and I'm absolutely digging the transition from winter into true spring. The nature nerd side of me is always at full throttle this time of year and since starting my masters I've been constantly learning new things that I can then see play out on the landscape. It's like learning to read an entirely new language, but not a spoken language, more like music notation or coding. Every little thing you learn adds another piece to the puzzle, which you then use to inform the way you see the world. And now that I've gotten myself all jazzed up, I think I'm going to go for a nice mid-day stroll.
Mike Toolan
Penn State Footbag Club
