I have to admit: since I fell in love with bowling, it has taken over my life.
My non-work schedule now revolves around my leagues and practice sessions. In my free time, I am on YouTube watching bowling tips and matches, or blogging and getting all creative with songs and poetry about bowling, or shopping for my next bowling bag or bowling ball or some other bowling accessory. I still find time to dance, I have not found time to sing, songwriting comes when it will. And as spillover work creeps insidiously into my nights and weekends, the paperwork and bills and household chores tend to pile up as I choose instead to run to the lanes to escape, procrastinate and find my zen.
I never had a sport. Having numbers and statistics tied to my performance, working on improving and building muscle memory, and then tracking and seeing results all make for an exciting adventure for a nerd like me. I relish the endless practicing, figuring out the puzzle of "what am I doing wrong" and facing the challenge of "how can I do better." Seeing improvement, fruit of my arduous labors, is so very rewarding, and so utterly addicting. It is absolutely frustrating as well, but it is a blessing to find that the help I need tends to come from all around. Thank you to all my bowling angels!
Being a proponent for teamwork and collaboration at work, I find the dynamic of a league bowling team strangely familiar. Each team member is indispensable, and is counted on to know and follow the rules and to give their best on the lanes. Individually we need to invest in our development, so we can contribute to the team and deliver the goods come "show time". In this aspect the bowler's long journey of continuous improvement is akin to a singer or dancer practicing endlessly to hone and perfect their craft, in order to showcase artistry and mastery at centerstage. But the bowler aims for consistency, for mental toughness, and for a mastery of lane adjustments, ball selection, shot selection, and all the other intangibles that make perfect games so improbable.
The continuous improvement investment is a solitary endeavor, but the league (performance) aspect is truly collaborative, making bowling a dichotomy of isolation and of community and team work. Thank goodness for the social aspect, as I relish (with gusto!) the sense of belonging with my kindred bowler souls.
Bowling has changed me, and it is not all good. A darker side has emerged, and it is altogether competitive, impatient, envious, self-centered and devious (trouble...). I still grapple with the green monster of envy, while genuinely feeling joy for others when they do well. It helps to focus on my journey and to recognize that there is truly no basis for comparison, as our paths are all unique. I want to win badly, and I have suffered as a result. I make mistakes and bad decisions, I am not perfect, but I am passionately committed to my sport, and I am willing to objectively do what it takes to advance. Not everyone will understand or support me, and I cannot please everyone either. I can just move forward, strive to learn the lesson the universe is sending me, try harder to align my words and actions with pureness of intention, and vow to surround myself with positive people and circumstances, coz life is too short for drama and negative vibes.
How far am I willing to go? Right now, I am going as far as I can, doing as much as I can, which is a lot: two leagues and two regular practice sessions per week, sometimes more. I want to do more, like add in the occasional tournament, but I need to budget time for my family, my home, my friends and all my passions. I need to find balance and not let the addiction rule. Some goals will just need to be on multi-year plans.
The lanes will always be there for me, calling my name, beckoning. May the passion never wane.
See y'all on the lanes!
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