Being an Average Freestyler
Starting off with some famous quotes -
The only fear I have is the fear of being average
Why be average, when you were born to be great
Being average is not for me
And many such more quotes motivate you to be best, better than the rest.
Yes, you were born to be great. Anyone can be great! YES YOU! YOU ARE GREAT!
What people do not realize the very basic problem with this statement — if everyone was great, then by definition no one will actually be great! Duhh!
Sometimes during the 90’s, exceptionalism and making people believe that they were uniquely special became all the rage. That combined with the mass media driven exceptionalism has made everyone compete in a rat-race to be the best they can ever be.
That feeling of euphoria one achieves when being compared to the greatest people who ever walked on the planet, is unlike any other! You know that feeling. You have experienced it too. I know I have.
Now as I am a freestyle footballer and this is a blog related to freestyle football, so I am going to talk about this topic from a freestyler’s perspective and how all these grandiose ideas are affecting our tiny freestyle football world.
While trying to achieve excellence should be everyone’s goal in life and there is nothing wrong with trying to improve and perfect yourself everyday, people have somehow become obsessed with the idea of achieving a hardcore level and becoming the best in the game.
Now this obsession has two effects-
- It motivates you to be better than you are. But what is one’s idea of being better than himself/herself? 99% of the time it is the next person who is better than him/her. So in order to be better than himself/herself they just try to be another person who is better than him/her. Hence there is an identity clash and he/she loses his/her personal identity to become someone better.
- It makes you doubt yourself. Now since you know that there is someone better than you, you are overwhelmed by the feeling of self-doubt that there may be something inherently wrong with you. So once again you try to mask your identity with someone else’s tricks or style because you have come to the conclusion that you are not good enough.
Ultimately, the obsession with becoming better makes you someone you are not. While this may not be true in a lot of cases, I believe it is the case with more than 90% freestylers out there.
Freestyle Life is a journey and not a race.
And as I have seen over the years in my short journey in this world, this freestyle life does not last very long. It is the sad truth, but yes! Your freestyle life is going to be short, very short. You may live it for 10 years, 8 years or even less. And life is much larger than that.
There will come a point in your life when you will have to say goodbye to this lifestyle and move on to other things in life. Heck if Palle — The godfather of Airmoves could not last and ultimately moved on, who the fuck are you to think that you will last forever?
People say they cannot imagine their lives without freestyle, I mean what! Fuck Off Already!
I do not mean to be rude, but the only point I am trying to make is Freestyle Life is a short one and you are blessed to be living it! Doing incredible tricks, meeting new people, travelling to unknown places, exploring new cultures and whatnot. Not everyone gets to experience this lifestyle. You have worked very hard to be a part of this community. Embrace that feeling! Enjoy it! Live the moments like they will never return.
Stop chasing the fucking imaginary point of everlasting greatness and becoming the ultimate beast that makes everyone go crazy as soon as he enters the training area.
You may find this hard to believe but every single person sitting in that training area matters! There might be only three people in the middle, but freestyle life is made up by all those present in that room and not just by these guys. Every one matters!
You will have to realize the truth that not everyone was born to be great. Some people just have to make up with little moments that make up life. Some people are just born to be average. But is that a thing to be sad about? NO!
Being an average freestyler is not a curse, it’s a blessing. And what took me a long time to understand that it is the only factor that has kept my freestyle alive. The average life keeps me striving to do more everyday. At the same time I do not have pressure to do what is expected of me, because nothing is expected of me! I am right in that meaty part of the curve where I strive to become better everyday while being content with whatever I can do.
Of course I would like to become better! Everyone does! But I am not going to be running towards the hardcore life blindly believing that it is some ultimate summit that I have to reach. I am just going to enjoy the journey. Enjoy the freestyle life.
It does not matters if I just stay an average freestyler all my life. I would enjoy the freestyle life, even as an average freestyler.
Will you?
This article is a part of my publication Freestyle Works. It is the only independent freestyle football publication right now in the world and I run it to spread new and unique ideas about freestyle football.
Give a clap if you liked what you read. Follow this publication for the more stories. Talk to me down in the comments section if you have any suggestions or a demand for me.
That’s all folks!
