Choosing the Unknown Path
The saying goes: when faced with a choice, it is better to take the devil you know than the devil you don’t know. I disagree. I think the devil you don’t know is much more fun and productive.
I thought about this idea today as I prepare to start a new chapter in my figure skating life. After working through (and overcoming) overuse conditions for two years, I decided over the summer to put a halt to jumping for the foreseeable future and focus on learning to ice dance, upgrading my overall skating flow and presence on the ice, and passing my Adult Gold moves in the field (MITF) test.
Embracing New Challenges and Risks
This is a whole level of skating I’m rising to. There’s risk involved with charging headlong into this new territory. I know two things: I will not be good at first, and I will fall more than I do now. And this is where the temptation to stick to my existing skill set – the devil I know – comes in.
I’m thinking specifically of one element that’s on the Gold MITF test: the backward figure 8. This is intimidating because I didn’t learn figures as required for competition when I was a child.
