Aerial Silk Diaries: The Beginning

You may remember that I blogged a while back about wanting to take an Aerial Silks class. I found a Groupon for a place here in Lexington that has classes just right up the road from me and I felt like it was fate. So at 2AM, half asleep, scanning through Groupon deals – I impulse bought 5 classes at Bella Forza Fitness. I woke up the next morning a little bit unsure of what I’d gotten myself into, but super stoked about finally getting the chance to try it out!

Fast forward a few months and I have now taken 3 classes! I procrastinated a bit and started to realize that my Groupon would expire in March, so one afternoon on my lunch break I signed up for a class and went right after work! There were two others in the ‘Intro to Silks’ class with me and they were quite a bit better than I was. They had more upper body strength. I had zero. I was doing pretty well right at first and then my arms just started to give out on me. I felt a little bit frustrated but I knew that this was my first class – how good could I expect to be? You only have to take one intro class before you can move on to the ‘Beginner Silks Class’ but I felt like I needed one more intro class under my belt to really grasp the basics. I went back this past Tuesday and did phenomenally better! I felt so great when I left the class because I really felt like I made a lot of improvement. Not to mention, I wasn’t in a ridiculous amount of pain like the week prior. I had delayed onset muscle soreness for an entire week after the first class and my body hurt in places that I didn’t know it could! It was a good hurt, but you know.. it’s inconvenient when you’re having trouble dressing yourself! ;]

Today I went to my very first beginner class and I just wasn’t feeling confident in myself. It was harder … obviously. I got myself into a pose that hurt because I didn’t keep my leg as straight as it needed to be. And boy did it hurt. I didn’t let anyone know that it hurt as bad as it did but I had to stand back a minute and take a few deep breaths. This was a full class and we were sharing silks and taking turns. I could tell that I was the only one fresh out of the intro class so it seemed slightly more intimidating to be surrounded by a lot of people who were more advanced than me. I was feeling overwhelmed and a little cranky about not being able to JUST BE GOOD AT THIS.

Real talk: I’m a quitter. I’m super gung-ho about new adventures and then when they get a little bit difficult I change my mind pretty quick. I felt myself want to quit in the class today and it made me angry. I don’t want to be that kind of person, not in any aspect of my life. I know I have what it takes and I can be good at this if I put in the time and the effort. I’m determined to be able to look back on this post 5 or 6 months down the road and see the progress I’ve made.

If there’s something out there that you’ve been wanting to try: just go for it. Don’t stop. Don’t let yourself quit. I think this particular type of atmosphere is really what I personally need because there’s someone to help me and push. If I sign up for a class it holds me accountable and once I get there I have to give it all I’ve got. It’s goal oriented and there’s obvious, measurable progress. Those are all things that really help me. And if you’re wanting to take Aerial Silks – do it! It’s so much fun and when you are finally able to do something that you couldn’t before – it feels amazing! If you’re interested in reading more about it, I really enjoyed reading Kaelah’s recent Rad Girl, Rad Gig feature of an Aerial Silks artist. It gave me this little bit of realization that there are people who do this is a JOB, and while I’m doubting there’s a huge market for circus performers here in Lexington, well – it’d be pretty freaking awesome to be that good at it! That could be me. ;]