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Sydney, Australia
My musings and meanderings on childhood - mine juxtaposed with that of my kids'. Everyday incidents and images from our life in Sydney turn my thoughts towards my own wonder years growing up in Bandra, Bombay, India.

02 April 2011

I Challenge You to Try Something New

A few weeks ago, I attended a couple of Zumba classes. In case you’re saying “Zum-what??”, Zumba is a Latino fitness program where your ‘workout’ is an hour of dancing. My interested was piqued when a cousin and her husband (you know who you are!) in Bombay showed me a few moves over Christmas. And when I returned to Sydney, two friends invited me to their Zumba class. I had to give it a whirl. This is what ensued:

It’s 8 pm on a sultry Wednesday evening. I enter an old church hall, with said two friends in tow. There’s a posse of women (and one token male!) chatting while they stretch. “Come on in!” hollers someone. Uh-oh, it’s time to put my best foot forward.

The class kicks off... The music is energetic; the rhythm, infectious. I can’t help but boogie to the beat. By track three, my heart rate is pumping, my hips are swaying in sync to the song. I’m moving, I’m grooving. Those happy hormones are surging.

After a good hour of twisting, twirling and toning, we end on a high note. My verdict: it was fun, it was stimulating, it was out of my comfort zone, it was DIFFERENT.

So my challenge to you is to try something NEW!
Just do it. It doesn’t have to be exercise-related; it could be something simple or something you've always been meaning to do:
* Watch a foreign film
* Taste a new cuisine
* Volunteer your skills in the community
* Try on a different shade of lipstick
* Taking up a new hobby (bowl-weaving or boules, anyone?)
* Strike up a conversation with your new neighbours.

Check out your local notice boards or newspapers - there are heaps of cheap (or even free) events or courses taking place all the time. Go on! I guarantee it will rev up your engines and get you out of your routine (and perhaps, a rut?).

As a Robert Frost poem title goes, try ‘The Road Not Taken’. Maybe you’ll see things in a new light. Discover a latent talent (ooh, I just realised that ‘latent’ is an anagram of ‘talent’!). And, if the experience did not meet your expectations, at least you gave it a go. It could be something ‘that makes all the difference’.

So tell me, have you done anything different recently? Something to get out of your comfort zone? What hobbies do you enjoy?

2 comments:

  1. I can totally relate to this! After moving to the UK from Perth, WA I suddenly found myself wanting to try new things and had started Zumba classes at the local gym. I loved it as soon as I started but I think I was more in love with the great tunes and well... It always put me in a good mood no matter how my day at work went. I am still doing them 9months later but now I am finding it more difficult. I think that is because as you get more fit, you start to challenge yourself to complete the moves properly rather than just shaking your hips :) But I am definitely up for trying new things and recently tried skiing which I never thought I would take to... but once you start you never look back. Great blog - thanks Al!

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  2. Thanks Stace!Skiing?!?!! I'm impressed! I need to check out your FB photos...

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