Until I was 27 years old, I couldn't touch my toes...

So, you might be surprised to discover that until I was 27 years old I wasn't able to touch my toes. This was quite embarrassing during gym class in middle school when we took the physical fit test and actually got a grade based on touching our toes and bonus points for reaching beyond our toes. I was doomed from the start. I was going to live a life of failure because I could only reach my calves.

Flash forward ten years to my roommate AJ who started going to a Pilates class and convinced me to go with her. "But AJ" I protested. "I hate Pilates. It's all about stretching and I can't even touch my toes!" She didn't listen, in fact she convinced me that if I came that I might even like it.

Not only was she right but after just three class sessions, I was bending over my mat struggling to do a Pilates push-up when all of a sudden a miracle occurred. "Wait a minute, did I just touch my toes?" I did 5 more push-ups and crab walked back up the mat. "Yep, that was definitely me touching my toes!" I felt like jumping up and down. I wanted to run up to our instructor Kelly and give her a big hug. Kelly, being worthy enough to have her own blog post someday, is one of my personal heroes! After all she introduced me to the phenomenon of my fingers touching toes without the back of my knees being bent.

Today you will be happy to know that with the help of consistent spurts of Pilates I now touch my toes on a regular basis. In fact, I can even reach beyond my toes. I just wish I could go back and repeat gym class.

A similar thing happened with running. In high school I HATED to run. I loved working out, I just hated running. I would spend about three hours each afternoon playing tennis, but when it came time to run laps I whined, complained and basically walked through my part. The worst part was the days we were forced to run a mile lap around our school, in 100 degree weather at 2:00 during school hours. I mean, come on, people were still in class watching through the windows! Yuck!

Fast forward a few years later to my friend SK who wanted to go running and needed a running buddy. Picture the same conversation with AJ only insert the words "go running." And even though I whined and complained, just like Pilates, running won me over. I now go on a regular basis. In fact the idea of running the mile lap around Garland High School actually sounds like fun, just not at 2:00 on a sunny day.

There is something else in my life that I'm waiting to be proved wrong by. I am anticipating that my experience as a teenager in this area will be completely different from my experience as an adult. And I feel like the hope is really there, that I can relearn to do something that I have felt for years was impossible. And each time I touch my toes or run a mile (hey...I'm still working on getting to that second mile) I feel like I can almost touch the reality that it is possible.

What is the impossible task to which I refer? Well, I almost shudder as I type these words, I plan to learn a new language.

You see, just like touching my toes and just like running a mile, language learning has never been something I would have said that I am good at. In fact, the only failing grade I have ever received in my life was in 7th grade French class. Which proved to me that I was not good with new languages. Never mind the fact that I then took four years of high school Spanish with relative success, I still was not good with languages.

Last January the Captain and I went to New Personal Orientation with our organization. We took a language test, would you like to know my scores? Keep in mind, these scores are based on self-perception:

Inhibition -4
Self-Image -6
Risk-Taking -2
Ego Permeability -2
Ambiguity 0

Looking pretty grim huh? Keep in mind, this scale runs from -6 to +6. But are you ready for this, check out where I scored highest...

Motivation +6

Go figure. So basically, last January, I believed that I am totally incapable of learning a language, but I'm going to do it come hell or high water. The irony is at that same orientation we also took another test based not on what we thought of our language ability, but what our actually language ability truly was. Here's what I scored:

Phonetic Script: missed half
Spelling Cues: missed half
Over All: mid high %

So basically, I'm a really bad speller (are you surprised) but over all, when it comes to languages. I'm mid-high. Which translates to, I'm average! Yippee, my self-image score just leaped several points. I might even be out of the negative range now.

Why do I write about language learning in the context of Pilates and Running? Well, the truth is that in my brain they all occupied a similar category titled: "Things I was forced to do as an child in the Texas education system which I will not do as an adult because I am horrible at it and do not wish to put myself through that misery or embarrassment again."

When in reality they should have occupied this newly adopted category: "Things I didn't enjoy as a child because they were forced on me but that I can come to really enjoy and love when the circumstances are right."

Let me explain. In gym class I never stretched before I was forced to try touching my toes and that is just ridiculous. I just tried to touch my toes now without streching and couldn't do it. Who, except for super bendy people, can touch their toes without stretching? That's just bad for you. But when exercise and stretching is done before toe touching, it can be accomplished...and it actually feels good.

The same goes for running. Who likes running in 100 degree temperatures around a concrete parking lot in front of the eyes of 2,000+ gawking high school students who should not be staring out the window but instead listening to their geometry teacher? No one likes that. But running on a tree lined avenue, or in the park, with an Ipod and possibly next to a friend who runs at the same pace? Now that is fun.

I guess what I'm saying is that I have always been highly motivated to learn this new language of the country that we will soon call home. But I have gone back and forth in thinking that it was actually possible for me to really speak another language. I feel confident now that I can learn this language. And that is really huge for me, because for years I would have told you that it was next to impossible for me to learn a new language. That it was going to be an uphill battle the entire way and that even in the end I wouldn't really be able to speak very well.

My perception now of what it will look like to learn a new language is really similar to how I view my ability to touch my toes or my ability to run. I'm not the best at it, but given the ideal circumstances and techniques that work for me, it is possible for me to speak another language. And speak it well.

Language learning will be a lot like running and touching my toes, it won't come naturally. I'm going to have to work at it. I'm going to have to discipline myself and make myself do it some days. But it will be rewarding in the same way that running and Pilates are rewarding. I'm going to need the right equipment to learn language, the same way I need a mat to do Pilates and an instruction video/book. Sometimes I'll try things that won't work and sometimes I'll find something to works right away. Somedays I'll be tired and need to take it easy, and other days I'll need to push myself to run that extra distance.

One thing I'm very grateful for, that I haven't mentioned yet. My love for running and my love for Pilates grew because someone else was there to help me get started. I think it will be the same for learning language. I'm going to need someone to help me get started, and that is why I praise God that he gave me the Captain. Because do you know what he scored on that same language ability test?

All Categories: Very High %

I know, he's a smartie and I'm going to take advantage of it...