I don’t know about you but I don’t do very well with isolation. Sure, being an introvert, I enjoy that hour in the morning when the entire family is still sleeping, sitting down in my patio, feeling the morning breeze whooshing against my skin, being still, meditating, contemplating on how the day will unfold and being thankful for day before and the day unraveling. And yes, wouldn’t mind going every now and then on a retreat of some sort for a weekend – maybe camping, hiking, being one with nature.
But there is just so much “omming” and “ahhing” one can do. Life is meant to be lived in an active, interactive and hands-on kind of way. I didn’t realize this (and been taking it for granted) up until the pandemic hit. During the forced isolation, I realized that people need to “connect” – talking (not texting or tweeting), touch (even a handshake or a pat in the back), laugh together (not at someone on youtube). What is even better is connecting with like-minded folks with the same interests and attitudes. While current society has made us to believe that online connection is enough, I beg to differ. For me, we’re just social animals. We are wired to be.
When I was young, my “Facebook” was the park district where they had tennis courts, basketball courts, pool, community center etc. You see the picture. I naturally gravitated towards the tennis court after school and meet up with my friends whether just to chat up about our day, argue, talk about girls, and yes, play tennis. It was fun, innocent and “amongst friends”.
I’m still not sure if tennis brought us all together or it was just the backdrop of our needs to connect. It doesn’t matter. We were there. We were having fun, and yes, our tennis was getting better too (to the delight of our parents whether they were just trying to get us off the streets or actually dreaming of college scholarships through tennis).
So the point is: whatever it is – tennis, cars, or stamp collection (do people still do that?), people need a common ground to play in (both literally or figuratively). For me it’s tennis and the benefits of what it brings aside from the social factor which I will blog more about later.
Thanks for reading.
