Has anybody ever been called this before?

I have a few times in my life and each time I get confused about it.  What does showing off look like?  Is it someone doing what they do well in front of you and you can’t do it?  I’m sure that it comes from a place of lack of self-love and self-worth but I want to shine some light on this.

Are the Olympic athletes out there “showing off” to the world?

Yes, I guess they are.  They are “showing off” what dedication, a high level of practice and skill looks like.  Any time you see someone with skillz or talents let me tell you they often are not naturals.  It takes years of works, thousands of hours to master anything.  I find most people give up after 5 minutes and start talking about how they can’t do it, it’s too hard.  Geesh, give yourself some credit!  Learning new things, take time, your body needs to create muscle memory, strength and endurance.

I attended a yoga class a few years ago and choose to do full Natarjasana Pose instead of the one handed version.  Why did I choose to do that?  Well, it wasn’t to show off!  I actually find the full pose easier to hold now, more tension, and well, it just just feels incredible so why not, I was a student in the class and it was my practice.  Should I hold back in case someone sees me as a “show-off.”  That is just plain unhealthy on all levels.

What was sad about that was the teacher, called me a show-off in the class, before she asked me to demo the full pose to the rest of the group.  Hmmmm, interesting!

In my life I have a few things, okay many things, that I LOVE to do and over the course of 20 years, I have some skill.  My Dharma is to be a teacher, to show others how to do it.  I started with snowboarding, rock climbing, hacky sack, pool, foosball,and then yoga, hooping, slacklining, I spend time doing things that make me happy and once you log some hours doing it, it shows.

I spent more time on yoga than anything else and I’ve been practicing yoga without taking any breaks for over 10 years now!  I have yoga skills, but honestly it’s not about showing them off to the world but rather inspiring something inside of others.  Yoga was not natural for me, AT ALL!  I liked fast, moving, adrenaline pumping activities but yoga touched my heart in a very deep way and I was hooked.

So next time you think about calling someone a “show off” hold back and instead become curious about their path in life and how they got there.  Most often it was all because of countless hours of hard work and dedication.  Our talents are to be shared with the world, if you keep them secret then our communal level of skill and ability likely won’t every progress.

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