Have you ever watched people walk on slippery surfaces such as icy parking lots or wet floors. Lately I became aware how humorous it can be to watch people as they try to carefully navigate their way across an icy arena. There are some major difference and one of my hypothesis is that age and perhaps wisdom play a major role in how people make it to their destination with their body and pride intact.
Let's start with the very young ones that seem to have no fear; they just race across the parking lots or whatever icy surface they are zooming across as their poor frantic mother turns deathly pale as she scrambles to catch the child and praying that she does not fall on her bottom.
The next group is older children. Kids as they get older seem to get more adventurous as they skate across the slippery surface. It seems as if skates just magically appear on their feet or they imagine this has happened for they love to see how far they can slide without picking up their feet. They have no fear and zealously slide across the parking lots as if they are performing in a skating event. Even when they fall they are able to pick themselves up and shake it off, laughing as if it was all part of their plan.
The ones though that I find interesting are the adults. For most of us we trepidally walk across the ice as if we are walking on egg shells. We seem to have a built in fear that if we take a wrong step we will fall and become like Humpty-Dumpty. My sister-in-law has a walk that I call the turtle walk for she walks so slow and and carefully thinks about each step as if there is land mines waiting to take her down. She even has the chains for the bottom of her shoes but still does not trust them to keep her on the upright.
We all as we get older have been known to take a spill or two. The bruises and cracks int he bones are reminders of how unforgiving these slippery grounds can be this time of the year. The glistening beckoning of carefree skating across them loses its appeal as we just hope we do not land on our rears as we attempt to make it to our destinations. Yet it seems the more cautious we become the more we fall. Those that just go about the terrain of ice and snow as if they don't have a care or even cheirsh the hazards it presents as an adventure do not worry about the dangers or aches that will follow as their body slams into the ground. They make it to the entrance with zest and in fast time while the rest slip and slide praying for the soft landing if we lose our not so sure footing. My question for myself is how do I get back the zealous carefree attitude of the youth as slid around on the ice perhaps saving myself from the pitfalls of worrying about making it there so much and just be able to enjoy the journey of getting there?