Last night I watched Leonel Messi lead Argentina's national soccer team to win the Copa America semi-final against Colombia with a bloody ankle. It was amazing the way he was targeted. He was masterful, unstoppable and the only way to take the ball from him was to tackle him full-body or by sliding with cleats up, which is what caused this injury.
Still, he played on.
This made me think about how injuries and age affects a pro athlete's performance, and how, at some point, they reach a certain age or get hurt so bad that they have to quit.
I guess that's how I feel about writing. Not that I am anything close to the Leonel Messi's of the world, but I understand why athletes and dancers go through so much surgery and rehab to try and get back into the sport they love.
I believe I love writing so much that I don't think I will ever quit, unless my mind goes and I suddenly lose my capacity to write, like an athlete who can no longer perform because of a permanent injury.
I know from these past few years that I'm not completely invincible. When my brother died, I could not write for a long time. But that's mourning... it breaks you and you stop doing the things you love for a while. But even then, that "writing gene" is strong in me. Eventually I healed, did a lot of soul searching, and then I rolled up my preverbal sleeves and got back to work.
And still, I write on...
~ * ~
Maybe writing works the opposite way athletics does. Athletes are best when they are younger and need to give it up as they age. Writers might need to work their way up and are their best when they are older.
ReplyDeleteIt's possible. I do like the writing styles of older writers, even when I was younger.
DeleteI quit dancing when I got injured during the SARS pandemic in 2003. I was dancing and singing in CATS in China one day and then sent home the next.
ReplyDeleteWriting saved me from depression, anxiety, and insanity. My ankle recovered, but I knew I would never be a professional dancer again.
I can never quit writing, because I am a writer.
When my mom passed away in 2000 I had to write to make sense of my grief. I'm still trying to process her loss, and I wish she were here to see my wife and my kids growing up.
Quenntis
I'm so sorry to hear that, Quenntis. Just to get to the level of being a professional dancer is so impressive. Writing helped me make sense of my grief when my brother died. I just finished the first draft of the last book in my series. He loved the first two books and it pains me that he can't read the last one.
DeleteI like to think he is able to see how the story ends, read it somehow. He would have loved the ending. The people we love are still with us, in everything we do. I truly believe that.