For The Joy Of It

Yesterday, as I was writing about writing for the joy of writing I remembered something my mother reminded me of years ago. Remember, in the 2002 Olympics here in Salt Lake City, when Sarah Hughes, an eleventh grader from New York, came out of nowhere and won the gold medal? The eyes of the world were on the other skaters, Michelle, Irena and Sasha and they all skated beautifully but were each flawed and tense. Sarah, on the other hand, took to the ice completely relaxed and was smiling, beautifully flawless and obviously having the time of her life. "I wasn't even thinking about the judges," she said, "I thought there was no way I would win anything. I just skated for pure enjoyment."

So many things that I loved as a child, and did simply for the pure joy of doing them, somehow became part of my adult agenda to accomplish and achieve and thus stopped being something that made me happy at all. For example, as a little girl I sang and danced everywhere I went - twenty four hours a day in my little costumes and jewelery - happy as could be. Then performing became something to make me into this star I was always "supposed" to be and something to do, or not do, because of the money it would bring in. Now I can't even remember the last time I performed simply because I'm good at it and it makes me happy. And now I want that more than anything.

We put so much pressure on ourselves to become and achieve and we get stressed out and depressed and ridiculously disappointed when we don't come in first. Think about it, when was the last time we read just for the joy of reading, sang for the joy of singing, learned for the joy of learning, ate for the pure joy of eating and then worked out simply for the joy of how it makes our bodies feel? When was the last time we flat out ignored our personal judges and committees and head sitters that tell us what we should be doing, and all the backseat drivers that tell us where we should be going, and just took to the ice of our lives and skated for pure enjoyment? Because those moments are when we are our most alive, brilliant, creative and magnificent. As my mom says: When you forget about the judgement and go for the joy -there is genius for all to see.

I don't know about you but I, for one, am ready to hit the ice. And the stage and the gym and the library and the computer and the park with my kids and the ice cream parlor and the flower beds...

Speaking of joy, another freakishly generous cornucopia of friendship is taking me to San Francisco and wine country for the weekend. Dropping off the planet again...