When I was a small child, I picked up negative mannerisms and mindsets from other people. Like how a child should follow their elders and do everything to please them, or at least that’s what my classmates and I believed. But, as the years went by, I realized that one should not act to please another but to please oneself and the Lord.
When I was a fourth-grader, I joined the swimming team to make my parents proud. I didn’t love the sport, but I also didn’t hate it. I constantly compared myself to other swimmers, thinking, “Why can’t I be like them?” And that mindset was my downfall; I never improved greatly in that sport. I got faster but I didn’t grow as much as my teammates did. As I got older, I realized that the swimming really wasn’t for me and that I shouldn’t choose a sport that I don’t love. For the remaining months of my sixth grade, I was introduced to volleyball.
I liked volleyball enough to practice almost every afternoon with my friends, for me it was a stress-reliever. The way that my arm would turn red after successfully receiving many spikes, I loved that feeling. The sport made me happy, I truly liked the sport.
But I didn’t love it that much to dedicate myself to it.
Summer of 2018; I familiarized myself with figure skating.
Ah, I remember the first time I watched Yuna Kim skating on Youtube, I was enthralled by the different movements that she would execute on ice. After watching that, it was like a chain-reaction was triggered. I started watching different figure skating videos: How to start, Yuzuru Hanyu and Javier Fernandez, Figure skating Physics, etc. I was really intrigued by the sport.
I started daydreaming about me practicing figure skating.
Unfortunately, I had to shatter those dreams. I was about to start in a really prestigious and strict school: Philippine Science High School CBZRC Campus. Back then, I thought, “If I started figure skating right now, I would have to do it on weekends”. But I couldn’t do that, I stayed at dorms and I was only home for the weekends. I really wanted to try the sport, but I couldn’t sacrifice my time with my family just for the sport. So I focused my mind on volleyball.
For someone who has never been on the ice, I was really obsessed with ice skating.
I tried to forget about it, but while I was staying at the dorms, a friend of mine introduced me to Yuri!! On Ice. And I was so amazed with the animation, it was as if someone was really skating. While watching YOI, I kept on saying, “I want to do this”.
In the middle of Eighth Grade, my parents pulled me out of school.
I’ll miss everyone in Pisay, but I can’t help being happy that I have to take STEM when I grew up. It’s not that I don’t like STEM courses, I do! I mean, I like Chemistry and Astronomy, but I’m more drawn to the Arts.
Now that I have a lot of free time and I don’t have to focus on my Academics that much anymore, I realized this is the time to try out figure skating. I realized that it was a sport that I have come to love and that I was willing to work really hard just to be able to skate. And it’s not a sport that I have to do to please others, instead I would be pleasing myself. Although this is for me, I hope that I would make the people around me proud for choosing to do what I love.
Wish me luck!
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“Love what you do; Do what you love.”
Wayne W. Dyer
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(Feature Picture taken in Bangkok, Thailang in 2019.)