Challenge

Spent yesterday afternoon in the park. One good thing about this current dry spell is that it’s really nice being outdoors in the sunshine. I read and wrote and pondered… and admired this fine fellow.

It sat in a tree not far from our rug, keeping an eye on the proceedings. A picnic group nearby managed to entice it down from the tree with scraps of food, and it actually sat on the grass waiting for morsels and eating whatever was offered.

Pity it was too busy eating, because we didn’t get to hear its unique signature call. The call of the kookaburra always makes me happy.

M rode around the park on his muni.

It’s just like riding a bicycle for him now.

He’s also trying to learn how to combine his other favourite activity, juggling, with unicycling.

I love how M is constantly challenging himself with his unicycling – and managing to have a great time doing it, too.

While M rode around I jotted down ideas and notes for a couple of projects I’m involved in (and hoping to be involved in) – and thought about what I/we can do and where I/we could go with it.

I was also thinking about what I want to do to keep myself engaged and constantly learning new things. Who’d have thought blogging would be so good for me on a professional and personal level? I’d like to keep challenging and exciting myself. The alternative is to inevitably become bored and burnt out doing the same old, same old.

It was really timely to read Liz Lane Lawley’s simple (but not easy) advice this morning. She suggests pushing yourself to do things that seem daunting and somewhat beyond your current capabilities: “This really isn’t unlike the advice I’ve seen given for any kind of sports or physical fitness activity—to push a little beyond what you think you can do, which will get you further than you expected every time.”

More pictures at Flickr: the unicyclist and the juggler.

Categories: meaning-of-life, challenge