Getting Somewhere...Probably.

I am very much a beginner at this archery lark, but so far I have managed a larger bruise from this than I often did at karate.  There was that one time I couldn't get out of bed the day after a competition, because it turns out you need to be able to move your collarbone to roll off your back, and Anna Parkin had hit me repeatedly in the same place the day before, but that was years ago and as such didn't happen.

The bruise I have developed after holding my arm incorrectly at archery is in the present, so it is worse and bigger and more livid and so on.  I quite like the colour.  

If nothing else, it makes me feel I have made progress.  (Thanks to my sensei for making me feel bruises and pain  = success)  No matter.  I have a nice shiny bruise now, so I can assure myself I have had a decent go at archery.  Quiet down there, people who have done much archery and know this makes no sense.  Sense is not something I currently care about.  This is about experiencing things.

Look at the bruise.

As well as a bruise, I now have a rented bow and arrows at home.  Doesn't it look pretty?  I feel like Hawkeye.  Without the outfit or the superhuman ability.  Quite by accident, I got a red bow and pink arrows.  As I missed the whole pink obsession as a kid, I am making up for it now.

I think I even managed to set up my bow properly this evening (nothing looked upside down, in any case).  Hey, and as a bonus, there is proof that I sort of mowed the lawn.  

Having the equipment is making me feel like I am getting somewhere.  As is the fact that partway through yesterday's session, they finally told me to shut one eye and, after the bruise, to turn my arm.  These two together meant I shifted from missing the target half the time to hitting the much smaller target they put up (we'll worry about hitting the gold another time; one thing at a time).

All in all, it is refreshing to be starting with something new.  It helps me to think about breaking things down and not needing to worry about being good enough.  I'm a beginner.  I passed my introductory certificate.  I'm good enough for now.