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Tough Hoop Love. What to do When You Feel Like You Suck!

I am gonna tell you something you might not have heard from many people before. There are times in this life when you are going to suck at things. Like big time.

Sometimes you will repeatedly suck. Other times you will suck for a short time but then quickly feel like the master. There are times when you are going to suck at it for a long period of time and journey into the “I am giving up” zone.

Hoop dance can really push the suck buttons!

I am privileged to hear and see the success and progression of hoopers all over the globe, I am continuously blown away by the rad skills of hoopers in classes and workshops. But there are many times when my role is purely emotional cheerleader, hooper guidance counsellor and calmer of seriously frustrated and frayed nerves.

After many wonderful years of ~~pushing hoopers off~~ seeing hoopers fling themselves off the “I suck” cliff and soar like fabulous birds of paradise I have accumulated a few tips to navigate the feeling of inevitable failure.

If you have heard your inner voice saying “maybe I am just not meant to do this trick” “I can’t dance/move like that because of XYZ” “I can’t do this” “That doesn’t work for me” then listen up and listen up good, I am dishing out some tough hoop love here.

– Accept that you are not exactly killing it at some stuff right now. So what? Remember when you couldn’t even hula hoop at all? Think back to the first thing you ever mastered and how difficult it may have been. Accept that some things suck now but will not always suck. Promise. In fact, if you go practice that move, technique, flow that is bugging you right now with every moment you are becoming less suckful! And while you are practicing take note of all the things you truly rock at…it is a freakin long list!

– Laugh at yourself. Let’s get one thing really straight IT IS A HULA HOOP! It is a circle of plastic with fabulously sparkling tape on it. It is a toy. You are a child of the Universe with infinite wisdom and potential. Check out that equation. Do the math. You got this!

– Stop living in your sucky past because right now is where it all happens and you have the power to delete the suck right here and now. Yesterday’s failures, last week’s losses, your childhood regrets…gone all gone, they linger only in the thoughts and feelings that you continue to hold on to by choice. Get your NOW on hooper and make it magical for the love of all things sparkling!

– Dont affirm your suckiness. Stop saying it, writing it, thinking it. Got it? You are in charge of what goes on in your head and what comes out of your mouth, how your express and the energy and focus you give to everything. You decide what you want to rock and what you want to wallow in. Oh yes you are. So you got the power. In the time it took you to write about how frustrated you are, how bad you are, in the time it took you to tell me or yourself that you can’t do it or you still don’t get it you could have cranked some tunes, mustered up some kick arse energy and got the freak over that hurdle with spirited practice and play. But it is up to you. Stay in your suckiness if you like 😉

What you think, you become. The internet has conflicting views on who actually said that. But whoever said it was freakin right. So if you want to keep on sucking at anything, simply keep on thinking that you do!

– Get curious and find active ways to overcome the sucky bits. The difference between complaining about your apparant crapiness and being aware of what is not working, where challenges exist and finding ways to jump the hurdles is enormous. I can’t do this, I suck, This is not working VS What about this is not working?, How can I improve this? What changes can I make? then making them. Ask questions. Dig deep. Explore.

– You are you and that is the coolest thing you can be. You are not her, you are not that hooper at the festival, you are not that hoop star on YouTube, you are you. Be inspired, be amazed but never and I repeat NEVER take a right turn onto Comparison Road. Let’s get with the program here. They will never be you and you will never be them. So don’t even go there. Get into yourself. Stop wasting your time, use it wisely to play, show gratitude, get a massage, enjoy a power hoop session, complete a task that has been lagging, make a healthy lunch, draw a mural on your ceiling, make a daisy chain, enrol in an inspiring course, write an empowering speech for girls at a local school, create a playlist of uplifting tunes for all of your friends…oh the things you could do! Comparison is not one of them that will serve you in anyway. Cool?

Feeling like you suck is simply that, a feeling. So how do you want to feel right now? You want to feel sad, down, useless, lethagic? You want to feel like you suck, like it will never happen for you? OK. I am gonna be over here feeling good, playing, practicing, accepting, soaking up, listening to the tunes of a hoop star. Join me, it is up to you, there is always an open invitation and plenty of space for us to play together.

Here are some lyrical mantras that are going to turn your hoop frown upside down…listen, memorize and sing them loud and proud every time the voice of suckville knocks!