A few months ago I made a serious mistake: I started going down the stairs at home with my hands in my pockets.
I stumbled and fell slow, slow as a feather, and in the slow fall I still had plenty of time to ask myself a couple of things:
"How the hell do I get my hands out of my pockets?"
–How is it possible that I am falling so slowly and consciously, and yet I am not able to react and avoid the fall?
I definitely fell, and several steps further down, after checking that I hadn't broken anything, one more question came to mind, the third:
–Thirty years ago, would I have fallen too, or would I have been able to put the other leg and save myself the blow?
(I have already passed the barrier of fifty).
For the last question, I have the answer:
- I would have saved the punch.
I told a trusted friend about the blow and the man gave me the word: proprioception.
–Are you working proprioception?
- Well, um...
My friend cracked the concept for me. Proprioception is the sense of balance, that quality that we develop as children and that, without even knowing it, we reinforce in adolescence and then, as we age and abandon ourselves, we lose.
Proprioception allows us to kick a ball without hitting the ground. Or penetrate to the basket and score on a tray. Or unleash a forehand shot and then reverse direction and start across the court to go for the backhand.
Proprioception is everything that barely remains when we have passed the barrier of fifty.
Wait a minute, are there solutions?
There are solutions.
We can hide the lack. We can show up at the gym and look for a range of exercises that correct our imbalances. We can do everything that before, as kids, arrogant kids, left over from life, we would never have worked:
“Propioception,” the Physical Education teacher told us.
-Own whateeeeee...? Pass me the ball, let's get on with the game.
We can do many things to slow down the inevitable aging, but the truth is, it doesn't give me life. We can't stop everything. If I get old, well, he goes ahead, leaves the pachangas and leaves the trays under the hoop.
PS: What I can do is be careful: if I'm going down some stairs, I'd better take my hands out of my pockets.
