Gymnastics

When Ivy was taking gymnastics it was interesting to watch her. She would throw herself at the flips and back handsprings and  back hip circles. All of it. Her coach would talk to her and she would run and jump. Over and over. I worried that she couldn't see very well without her glasses. I wondered if she was thinking about what she was doing or just throwing herself at it.

We talked about it recently and she said the hardest part was not resting. It rang so true when she said that. She really didn't allow herself time to rest at all. And she didn't know it was okay to rest in between. She did improve quickly, but she was stressed out and tired.

These days she has learned a little more about the importance of resting because of running. She takes her breaks from running more seriously. She uses the time to build up her reserves, gain some weight and let her body recover.

All throughout the last half of this year I have had images of my Ivy-Ivy throwing herself at gymnastics. Though I love my classes this year, it has been a stressful fall. There have been many days where I felt like the best I could do was just throw myself at whatever activity came next and hope for the best. Though I'm still hoping for improvement, the main goal has been to just get through it. I'm glad to have winter break here even though I still feel the same inertia pushing me. I guess doing the gymnastics is better than the alternative!