WAG Seeking the Owl.... Made me cry

[kayjaybe]

I'm glad you voiced your opinion, and I don't generally go out of my way to defend my video, but I think it's important that you understand the message and emotions I intended to communicate with Seek The Owl. I think it's fantastic that some people are able to continue with gymnastics into adulthood and I never meant to imply that a person shouldn't or couldn't make that decision if they so desired, but you have to understand that most gymnasts will retire young, and that period of time can be so hopeless and confusing. I made Seek the Owl so that people in that transition stage can feel a sense of relativity and belonging. My intent is for people to take away a thread of peace and to stir a desire to use all of the good things that gymnastics gave them to go and seek. To carry their childhood passion and take it with them wherever they go, and to feel inspired to be excellent for the rest of their lives. To be able to look beyond the now and see a life after gymnastics, and to believe there's happiness and fulfillment out there, too. I wrote it that way because that was my experience. Sure, I could have decided to stay a gymnast forever, but that's not the path I'm paving.

I found a way to make peace with letting go of something I loved with all my heart. I will never fall out of love with gymnastics, but like most people, my life is calling me out of the gym. I could never be excellent elsewhere if I hadn't closed that chapter of my life. Sure, I could have continued with the sport, but the point is, it will never be the same. I will never be a little girl in the gym again. It's not that I don't think I could still swing bars or land a series on beam if I set my mind to it. It isn't the mechanics and physical feats of the sport that I miss most, it's the essence of my childhood. The emotions and words exchanged between my teammates and myself during the last rotation of my level 9 state competition. I can go through the motions all I want, but I will never be able to travel back to that specific moment in time. I meant for gymnstics to be a metaphor of life. Time and life are fleeting. Change is a constant in life, and there's nothing we can do about it. All we can do is exist in the now, collect what we can from the present, and bring it along as armor for the future.


So fly your adult gymnastics flag high, if that's your owl.

Love you, Sarah! You are an inspiration to all the girls at our gym and they all love learning from you. You inspire my daughter not only in gymnastics, but also in filmmaking. She is interested in pursuing it in college, too.

Signed - a mom from your gym

 

[wsg13]

This I Actually the saddest thing I nearly cried. But it is so true! If I ever do quit gym this is what I will show everyone!

 

[bogwoppit]

Very nice. It captured a universal consequence (or risk) of putting everything you are into one thing, i.e., the risk of defining what you are without it.

It's a linear sequence of life experienced by people who dare to be great at something to the exclusion of others. If my daughter takes such a risk, I hope I can help mitigate the pain of loss by persuading her now to overlap her future vision of herself with some professional interests (preceded by college and graduate school, of course).

You must be related to Stretch. Nice use of paragraphs though.