He was never good at sports

The Daily Haiku for Feb 23. He was never good at sports.

A weak and shy kid,
he was never good at sports,
always lost in thoughts.

I was never good at sports when I was a kid. Physical education was my "subject terribilis", the one where I always struggled to get good grades.

I used to be a shy kid, always distracted, lost in my own thoughts. The physical world was much less interesting for me than the adventures that were continuouslly happening in my mind.

Believe it or not, when I was 8 or 9, I played football at my school team, though. I was a defender.

One day I did a lousy job defending the goal and the opposing team scored a goal (I tried to hit the ball and pathetically failed). It was totally my fault, and they all booed laughed at me. I felt absolutely embarrassed. That was my last match. I quit that same day. I never liked football to be honest. I just played in that team because football was the only team activity you could do (this was Spain in the 80's). Somehow, a part of me still wanted to "fit in" back then.

Or at least, up until that point. From that moment on, I stopped pretending I was interested in all that shit and became even more of an introvert. I however started to practice Taekwondo and got pretty good at it in my teens. Unfortunately, I got seriously injured during my black-belt exam and had to stay in bed for several months. When I started to walk again, I decided to stop practicing taekwondo. I didn't see the point in having to hit other people, I just wanted to do some physical activity.

It was not until I was 23 that I realized I needed to start exercising again. Years of sedentary college life had left me in really bad shape. So I joined a gym. It was hard at the beginning, but it grew on me. Nowadays, it helps me relax and let go of stress. I'd go mad without exercising regularly.

I try to go to the gym 4-5 times per week, and I am in pretty good shape, so in a way, that weak and shy boy no longer exists. Some thoughts come to mind.

First, as Bhuddism affirms, no event is good or bad. That football fiasco made me focus on all that rich world inside of me. Second, it is never too late to start training or doing exercise. It's never too late to do anything you want to do. You just need to spend enough time and energy on it.