"Archery transforms loss into learning, failure into curiosity, and winning into humility."
I don't get tattoos lightly.
Really, for all my goofiness and eccentricity, there's a deep well of seriousness that I approach most things, and for something to go in my skin should reflect how it has become inextricable from my mindstream. I have religious tattoos: the Om Mani, the mantra that brought me into Buddhism, and the jewelry of Mother Tara, who guided me through grief and addiction. I have tattoos symbolizing pursuits and environments I used to maintain myself when I found my faith faltered; waves and mountains representing the highs and lows I navigated through years of climbing rock and ice, exploring, sea kayaking, fishing, ultra running, and more to find myself and destroy my ego.
The arrow figures into many parts of my life. The Buddha, an archer himself, used metaphors of the arrow often. The Mahasidda Saraha met a dakini embodied in a fletcher, and was an archer himself. The Stoics use the symbol of the archer, who masters what they can but also accepts what they cannot; everything can be done right, but you can still miss, but the fear of missing never undermines the pursuit of the good shot.
While I'm new to archery, it's probably now one of the disciplines I've put the most hours into, and been the most absorbed in. It also has genuinely been the first place I've felt both confident and humbled, and brought me into a loving and supportive community like none other. I've struggled with imposter syndrome in almost everything I've done, and I think archery is the first thing I've been able to say "I'm good at this. And I know I can be better."
Archery transforms loss into learning, failure into curiosity, and winning into humility. It's been a place where seeing how far we have come makes how far we can go become exciting, not daunting. I'm glad to be a part of it, and hopefully it a part of me.
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