Not Too Shabby After All

I've always considered myself one of those people who is sort of just mediocre, average, okay at a lot of things. I was always a B student. I was never a natural athlete; I run, but I'm not fast. I can take a decent vacation picture, but I'm not good enough to be artistic about photography. When I had a job, I was good at it, but knew there were people my age who'd made it a lot farther in their careers than I had. For awhile there, when it was taking so long to get pregnant, I went through phases when all I could think about was what I was bad at, or how there were so many people around me who were better at the things I wanted to be good at - getting pregnant was just one of them.



Lately, though, I've come to appreciate (more than even I thought I would) the fact that I haven't - knock on wood - had any issues with this gestating thing. I had a little sickness and fatigue in the beginning, but most people do. I haven't gained too much or too little weight; magically, I've gained exactly the recommended amount without obsessing about calories. And I've kept up a respectable but not freakish exercise routine. Every doctor's appointment so far has been uneventful. In short, I seem to be pretty damn good at being pregnant.


Yoga was yet another "sport" I have never been great at. In every class I've taken, the instructor wandered the room while gently calling out instruction, stopping occasionally to correct a student's positioning. That student is always me. I eventually bought a DVD and did my incorrect poses in the privacy of my own home. A friend recommended a prenatal yoga class to me, and I am so glad she did. I went to my first class today and loved it. The instructor was not your typical earth mother type, she was kind of funny and had some good, practical information about leg cramps and other random pregnancy side effects. And when she stopped to correct someone's pose, it wasn't mine!

Toward the end of class, I was feeling really good, and she had us do this hip stretch pose that I used to do after a long run (which I learned from my yoga DVD), so it was second nature to me. The instructor noted that some people might have trouble with this pose because it is a little difficult. When I looked over at the girl next to me, who looked really athletic and with whom I was swapping exercise stories at the start of class, looked at my legs all twisted up and said, "How do you do that? It's so hard!"

I tried to supress my smile as I sputtered something about other poses I struggle with. During the relaxation session that followed, I admitted to myself that while I might not yet have found what I'm great at, I am better than average at a few things, even if one of them is just a single yoga pose. I should remind myself of that a little more often than I do. Everyone should.