Taking one for the team

Remember when you were a kid and when you fell down, it wasn't a big deal? Falling down as an adult is not quite the same. Trying not to fall down is a pretty big part of an adult's life when you start to break it down.

When it is icy, and have slippery shoes on, we all but slow to a snails pace. We get that deer in a headlights look, our legs get all tensed up, our arms go away from our sides and our stiff legs shift ever so slightly until we get to safety. How about when going down a hill? As a kid, you would just barrel down as fast as your legs could keep up, and if they didn't it was no biggie, we just let it go (remember Carrie on the opening to Little House on the Prairie? She went barreling down that hill and rolled to a stop all within the opening of that show. She just got up and kept coming down that grassy hill). Now, it is a cautious scuttling downwards until we get grounded on flat land again.

When we do fall as an adult there is a HUGE level of embarrassment that goes with it. Well, for me there is anyway and I am not quite sure why (it could possibly be due to the fact that when I see someone fall, providing I know they aren't hurt, I find it flat out hilarious I am not sure of the reason for that either, but I can't stop laughing). Is it because there we are, all composed and confident in our gait and WHOOPS, the stutter step. How do you cool-ly recover from that?

Worse than the falling is the process of trying NOT to fall. That totally out of control, discombobulated attempt to maintain your balance. If, at the end of all that, we are able to re-establish control, what then? Do you just carry on? Do you acknowledge the fact that you just about lost it and have a good chuckle with the passers by? What happens when you flat out bite it in public? Hopefully a semaritan stops by to see if you are okay, but after that, how do you continue? I have fallen in public before and I have been inwardly embarassed for hours.

The worst is falling going up/down the stairs...it is probably worse when you fall going 'up' the stairs. Your foot doesn't quite reach the level of the next step which often results in a near face plant or at the very least, a bruised shin.

Somehow though, when you are playing a sport, falling is fully accepted which leads me to the conclusion that it isn't the actual falling that gets people laughing, it is the setting. I went down hard last weekend at ball hockey and was nearly applauded for my efforts. My teammates were so impressed for my willingness to take one for the team, I got pats on the back and knuckle bumps all the way back to the bench.

We won the game 4-0 but here are the real trophies:















So, next time you bite it in public, instead of suffering embarrassment or the other emotions, promptly picture yourself in the middle of a hockey rink, a football field, or a soccer pitch. Instead of trying to hide from the people around you who are laughing at you, imagine that they are your teammates cheering you on waiting to give you knuckle bumps as you dust yourself off and get back in the play.