For those of you that know me personally, I’ve been training Brazilian jiu jitsu for almost five years now. If you ask anyone who started jiu jitsu as an adult about their experience, I can almost guarantee that a huge percentage of them would say, “I wish I had started sooner.”

As the generations in jiu jitsu are starting to train younger and younger, it is truly amazing to see how their confidence, skill, and overall well-being increases significantly at such a young age. 

Adding to the list of activities I wish I had started sooner, I also began taking swimming classes at the end of 2021. Growing up I was always fearful of being in the water, and I made a promise to myself that I would begin taking classes as an adult. It’s been about eight months since I started swimming classes, and I’m a lot more comfortable in the water than I used to be. I’m still learning how to tread water, but my overall technique has improved tremendously. Similar to jiu jitsu, I definitely wish I had started sooner. Being in the water is tremendously relaxing and the workout you get from swimming is also a plus. 

After a Friday night jiu jitsu class, I was in the locker room with one of my good friends and training partners, and I was sharing with her how I had recently started to see improvement in my swimming. She celebrated this win with me and we got into a conversation about a bunch of activities we wanted to try or get back into. She was on her high school’s swim team and talked about how excited she was to start swimming again. We typically have a lot of chats about our next ventures, and the excitement that beams through us is very evident. 

If you read my blog on My Why, I talked about how much I love to see people glow when they talk about something they love. 

As adults, with the amount of responsibilities that pile on, it’s very easy for that thing you love to fall by the wayside. If you care for not only yourself, but also for children, perhaps an older parent and/or spouse, the act of prioritizing the things we love stops being a priority. There are even times when we forget what those things are because we’re being bogged down by so many other tasks. 

While I was chatting it up with my friend that night, we talked about the numerous activities we would do if we didn’t have to work. I remember telling her that if I didn’t have to work, I’d take up tap dancing. I don’t know why but the idea of putting on tap shoes and dancing around the room seems so much fun to me. She responded, “Yep, could definitely see you doing that.” 

Along with this, I’d dive deeper into yoga as I’m still a rookie at it, train jiu jitsu more often, learn to play the piano, etc. 

These are all things that I’d love to do, simply because they challenge me, but also create so much joy.

I hope we all can get to a point where we can spend most if not all of our time doing things we love, but have you ever stopped to wonder what those things would be? 

Setting aside the activities you may have typically been good at throughout your life, what would be something new that you’ve NEVER tried before? Maybe it’s a dance class or a sport, or even learning a new instrument. 

Even if you don’t plan to act on this today, it’s amazing how much your mindset can shift simply by just sparking that interest. It opens up that sense of curiosity that we all have, which then allows us to create something new. 

Just like my friend had asked me that one night, what would you do if you didn’t have to work?