Realising Your Strength

At a yoga class the other week (before the shut down), I realised that I was getting into positions without thinking (too much) about them that I never could have achieved a year ago.  With regular practice, my strength and skills have gradually improved and I’ve come a long way without having noticed.

Practice makes perfect as they say, and whilst I am far from perfect at yoga, it is satisfying how much practice has allowed yoga positions to come a lot more naturally these days.

This applies to many skills, public speaking being one of them.  When I first started standing up in front of an audience and speaking, I would think and worry about every little thing.  Now if someone asks me to “say a few words”, it doesn’t send me into panic mode.  I’m not saying I don’t think about what I’m doing, just that many aspects of public speaking now come much more naturally to me than before and I don’t need to worry about everything I’m doing.  I know what my strengths are and can concentrate on the areas that need more work.

It’s helpful to remind yourself what you are good at and discover new strengths: things that you may previously had to really think about and work at to achieve may now be something you do almost unconsciously.

Don’t get me wrong; the yoga class was not easy and I could not do everything.  At one point the teacher said: “Everyone knows how to get into headstands, right?”.  I most definitely do not know how to do that!  But I’ll get there.  It is a challenge I will work on and get better at until it becomes a more natural part of my skillset, like public speaking has become.

Photo by Rima Kruciene on Unsplash