Last weekend I took to playing airsoft (a nerdy but better version of paintball) and it was great fun. I have only ever done it once before but I can definitely see myself doing it more often. You get to hang out with your mates for the day acting like big kids, shooting at people, running around, hiding and diving. I’m going off topic here but sat here writing this blog Ive realised I love it so much because I miss doing these childhood things, thank god I’ve found somewhere where it’s acceptable to do it haha.
Anyway back to it.
So yeah it’s a great day getting together with friends and running around like an idiot. It is also a great form of exercise without feeling like it because you are pumped with adrenaline the whole time. You spend a whole day running around, squatting, jumping and crouching, safe to say my hip flexors and hamstrings were pretty battered the next day. But it was a great excuse for a bubble bath ha.
Ive been looking forward to going again for quite a while as it is a great escape. Running my own business it’s sometimes very hard to shut off and not think about work. If being shot at and running for what (at the time) feels like your life doesn’t get you to focus on something else, nothing will. So if you are looking for a great fun way to exercise and shut off for the day, airsoft is where it’s at.
I spent most of the day running from bush to building trying to hide from being shot. Id find myself sitting in a bush for 5 minutes trying to see if anyone was going to shoot me. Then when was clear I’d run to a few other places to do the same, sometimes it paid off other times I found myself backed into a bush being sprayed at by multiple BB’s. Yes it does sting, but not as much as when I got brambles stuck in my shoe and I couldn’t get them out as I was being shot at.
At the start I spent a lot of time trying to be stealthy and move towards the objective or I’d end up staying in the same area running from bush to bush playing it safe. Where as the other team tended to run towards the objective and just go for it. I knew that being hit isn’t overly painful, it stings for a couple seconds and then you forget about it, but yet there’s still the fear of getting hit. My tactics didn’t work like theres did which is probably why they won most of the games.
It wasn’t till it was the last game I thought screw it let’s be a bit more ballsy and go for it, so I did. Instead of squatting in one bush I ran about more without being worried (as much) about being hit. I took more chances and I got more kills (hits) and I had more fun than I did all day sitting in a bush playing it safe. We still lost the game but I had more fun and I had greater results during the last game than I did the entire day prior to that.
In life it’s often the thought of fear that prevents us from getting and doing what we want, “what if I fail to lose weight I’ll be a failure”, “what if I go to the gym and look silly because I don’t know what I’m doing” “what if people laugh at me trying to lose weight”. Then once you do it you realise it’s was never something to even be afraid of and you regret not doing it sooner. Don’t let fear or anticipation hold you back, you will get much greater results from throwing yourself into it compared to holding back and playing it safe.
So don’t be like me squatting in a bush with burning quads, be me running from building to bush attacking the objective and enjoying the experience.
Even if you fail you will learn something and be ten steps closer to your goal than not attempting it at all.
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Thanks for reading :)
P.S Yes that picture is me, pretty badass huh ;)