how to keep going when you’re not seeing the results (yet)
The week before last, I finally managed to do something that I’d been trying to do for months.
I’d been practicing daily and NEVER expected that it would take me so long to do something that seemed like such a relatively simple thing to do. (Even though my teacher did say that it can take about a year of consistent practice to really get good at it.).
How it started
Back in April, I came across Ben Carpenter’s #60secondmovement challenge on Instagram.
The idea is pretty straightforward – you simply choose one habit or behaviour and do it for 60 seconds every day.
Ben chose skipping. I chose handstand practice.
I had already gone through a handstand training series online – a set of 7 classes that worked through strengthening your core and getting you used to bearing weight on your hands and wrists. The sessions gradually progressed through moves such as headstands against the wall, walking your feet up the wall (and gradually walking your hands closer to the wall), and kicking up to a handstand against the wall.
how it’s going
After going through all 7 classes, I was pretty happy with my progress. Kicking up to a headstand felt easy and it was clear that my strength was improving as I continued to practice walking my feet up the wall into a handstand.
But the kick up into a handstand? Nope, couldn’t do it.
It seemed so easy watching the instructor. I listened intently to all his tips and cues. And still, no matter how many times I tried, my feet just didn’t reach the wall.
So, when the #60secondmovement challenge came along, I was curious to see if committing to a short practice every day would be what made the difference and finally help me to kick my feet up to reach the wall.
Even though it was only a minute, I knew that it would be easy to (unintentionally) skip a day here and there, so I set myself a reminder on my phone as a way of keeping myself accountable. To be clear, while I did do handstand practice every day, I didn’t always practice the kick up specifically. Some days I only did the walk up the wall and challenged myself to hold my weight for longer, or to get my hands in a bit closer to the wall.
Some days, when I practiced the kick up, I’d almost do it. Some days, it felt like I wasn’t even close, and I wondered if I’d ever figure it out.
Then, finally, after almost four months of consistent effort, I DID IT. My feet touched the wall and I was balancing on my hands as I practiced slowly moving my feet away from the wall before allowing them to touch again. I almost couldn’t believe that I’d finally achieved it. And then, I DID IT AGAIN! Turns out, it wasn’t a one off. I could now, finally, do a handstand against the wall.
It gave me hope that perhaps (maybe) I will actually be able to achieve my goal of being able to do a handstand (without the wall) by the end of the year. It gave me some motivation to keep going.
reflecting back
After my initial exhilaration of finally getting up against the wall, I spent some time reflecting on what the key factors were that helped me to get there (haha, see what I did there!). I took some time to consider what I’d need to keep doing and what I’d need to do differently to be able to keep going until I can do a full handstand.
While I can’t say that my handstands improved a little bit every single day, if I zoom out a bit and take a broader view, it’s true that I’ve improved a LOT since my very first practice session. It’s also true if I compare what I could do one month with what I could do the next month. My strength, balance, ability and confidence in doing a handstand have all improved significantly since I started.
Even though most of my practice sessions were only bite-sized, because I was determined to keep going, to keep practicing consistently every day, it kind of just became a normal part of my day. After a while, I didn’t have to will myself to do it. I simply did it. And even if it didn’t feel like a particularly good session that day, my frustration was relatively short-lived. Because I knew that I’d keep going tomorrow and that more than likely (based on past experience), I’d have a better session then.
I often wondered, what it was specifically that was stopping me from being able to kick up into a handstand. It was possible that I simply didn’t have enough strength or my balance was off. But if I’m being honest, I think it was the subtle fear of being upside down that was getting in the way the most. Learning to trust that I did have enough strength and balance, and trusting that I would figure out what to do if I happened to fall, were an essential part of the process. Having enough trust in myself – that I had the capacity to figure out how to do it, and that I had the integrity to keep going until I could do it – was also key.
One other thing that really supported me, was literally seeing how I was going. I don’t have a mirror in the space that I practice in, but I experimented with using my phone to capture a video (a tip from my handstand instructor) so that I could see what I was doing well – or not so well. Then, one day when I was practicing late in the afternoon, I noticed that I could see myself faintly in the reflection in the glass sliding door behind me. This real time feedback – when I could see that I was almost there – really helped me make that final push that got me to the wall. It’s easy to underestimate the value of self-reflection or having a trusted friend, coach or mentor who can reflect back to you what they’re noticing.
What next?
So, in my quest to keep going until I reach my handstand goal, I’m intending to:
+ maintain consistency in practicing,
+ keep making small improvements,
+ keep reminding myself that I can and will get there eventually (even if it’s not exactly when or how I would like),
+ remembering how far I’ve already come,
+ and taking measures to reflect on (either in real time or in retrospect) what’s working well and what needs to change.
These are all simple things – but not necessarily easy!
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