It's Never Too Late To Try

As you read this my plane will probably be circling somewhere around Everest, as I near the beautiful city of Kathmandu for my five day trip to Nepal. Isn't scheduling wonderful? 

There will be a multitude of posts related to this trip, and of course a vlog, but for a moment I wanted to muse upon an event that may seem a lot less momentous, but certainly held significance in my life this week. As you may have seen on social media, because I posted about it a lot, this week I played my first game of touch rugby for the school team, which made it my first competitive game against another school (well these were the Cranleigh sports teachers, but you get my point) ever. At the grand old age of 23 I had somehow managed to avoid playing competitive team sports my entire life, until Sunday night. 

To say I was nervous was putting it mildly. For one thing I'm not very good at team sports, hence the decided lack of their presence in my life prior to this year. Playing against people I didn't know was such a foreign concept to me that I very nearly dropped out of the team for fear of making an utter fool of myself. But you know me, I'm not one to let fear rule my life, and so I bravely stepped up to the field – wearing my lucky number eight, of course – and gave it my best shot.

I appreciate that to others this simple act is of no significance. My teammates, whilst wonderfully supportive of me, had a far breezier attitude to the admittedly amateur game taking place on a sports field in which we had only one supporter who wasn't a fellow touch rugby player. But I left the field feeling incredibly proud of myself. I didn't score, I made mistakes, and I have a hell of a long way to go before I'm anywhere near the standard of my team mates or the opposing team but I tried. 

It's easy to stick to safe activities, activities that we know we're good at. Team sports have never been my thing because I get upset when I'm not good, and then I get worse and before you know it I'm the person who's holding back tears because they dropped the ball again. I started touch rugby because I wanted to have a fun way to exercise in what is otherwise an extremely busy year, and thus far I'm really enjoying it. In many ways I'm kicking myself because in years gone by I've had good friends on the team and I would have loved to have done this with them, but it really is a case of better late than never. 

In someways it makes me wonder what else I could try. There seems to be countless possibilities in this world, and to do everything is overwhelming, but it's a little bit thrilling to know that it's never too late. So why not search your brain for that one thing you've always wanted to do, and find a way to do it. I bet thoughts are surfacing even as you read this, little suggestions waiting for you to pay attention. Will you give it a go?

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