Knitting and Ice Skating

Professional ice shows have given me the opportunity to perform all around the world, from Madison Square Garden in New York City to live television in the Netherlands (as well as hundreds of significantly less glamorous small town venues, county fairs, and theme parks along the way).  You might think that knitting and skating have nothing in common, but the more I think about it, the more similarities I see.

When I skate I'm rewarded with applause, and when I knit no one claps for me (that would be awkward).  However, the feeling of successfully completing a difficult knitting project is very similar to the feeling that comes from the applause at the end of a show.  Sometimes the satisfaction of completing a knitting project is even more gratifying because the audience will still clap if I didn't perform my best, but I'll only feel fabulous about my knitting if I did it perfectly.

The rewarding feeling I get at the end of both activities isn't the only similarity between the two; I use my brain the same way while I'm doing each one.  What happens is I fall into a level of concentration where I shut out outside distractions, I quiet all of my usual internal chatter, and I focus solely on a mantra-like internal monologue.  When I'm knitting, I chant the pattern in my head to the rhythm of my knitting "knit two, purl two, knit two, purl two…" When I skate it's something more like "one, two, push, extend, left arm, out…"  I absolutely love this feeling of internal quiet and concentration because my thoughts are usually pretty chaotic and scattered if I leave them to their own devices.

So even though the differences between my two favorite activities are countless, they both make me feel and operate in the same way internally.  I challenge you to take a deeper look at the activities with which you fill your life, and I'm willing to bet they won't be a series of disconnected pieces either. There will always be a common thread, and if you can pinpoint that thread, you'll know what it is that you truly enjoy in life.

What do you love to do?
xoxo
Laura