KIRSTIE
My name is Kirstie. Not “Kristie” or “Christina” or “Krusty”. Kirstie. Like, “thirsty Kirstie". Pronunciation is important. I spent 10 years of life reading Archie comics, thinking that Jughead was trying to avoid Big EEEEEEthel. Oops. (It’s Ethel, by the way, short /e/). I am a 32 year old woman, married to an awesome (very busy) guy named Evan, who works as a city firefighter and owner of our gym/hockey training facility. We have a fantastic orange cat, “Biloxi” (he’s from Biloxi, Mississippi), and a hilarious little white dog, “Dundee” (a great place we once lived in Scotland). I work as a Speech-Language Pathologist at the hospital in the city in which we live – Prince Albert, Saskatchewan – or “PA” for short, which works remarkably well if someone yells, “Nice bum, where ya from?” to which you wittingly reply, “PA, Sask, why you ask?”Awesome. PA is ok, but our heart is 60 miles north at our cabin on Candle Lake. We spend endless summer hours on the boat, wakesurfing, stand-up paddling, and chillin with our friends. We have incredibly fun, loyal, interesting friends.
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| Dundee and Biloxi |
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| Holowaty. PS: He didn't land this, but he looked good trying |
This summer, we lost a good friend. A fellow Candle Laker. Ryan Holowaty died tragically in a drowning accident on July 31, 2011. I will probably never forget that day. As we searched for his body, I fully expected Holowaty to pop out of the bushes, covered in mud, with tales of shelter construction, bear wrestling, and survival in the wilderness a la Survivorman, Manhunter, or one of those crazy TV survival shows. That’s just the kind of guy he was –definitely a risk taker, but he’d always lived to tell the tale – and it was a guaranteed fantastic (f’n) story (Holowaty loved his f-bombs!). Holowaty truly “lived” more in his 31 years of life than most “live” in a lifetime. He was fearless, never afraid to try something new. On the day of Holowaty’s funeral, the church was filled with pictures/videos/stories of Holowaty surfing, skateboarding (off his roof, never mind, but that’s an entire blog in itself), hunting, scuba diving, wakeboarding, fishing, unicycling (that’s right, unicycling!), etc, etc, etc. As we tried to make sense of his death (How can you possibly make sense of the death of a healthy 31 year old???), the Minister urged us to use Holowaty’s life to inspire our own. Seize the day, life your life to the fullest, live each day as if it’s your last, and any other motivational cliche you can think of. You get the point.
So, that was the event that inspired me to partake in this experiment and share it with the world via blog. I want to show Holowaty that I learned from him. I want him to say, “Gnarly idea, Kirst!”(He liked that word, ‘gnarly’).
BUILDING HIGHWAYS
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| My Brain: After |
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| My Brain: Before |
I also have a few other reasons for this experiment. I want to build more “highways”. Let me explain. The majority of the patients that I work with have suffered a stroke, or some type of brain injury. I love to study the brain. It never ceases to amaze me. When part of the brain dies or becomes injured, the rest of the brain immediately wants to take over the duties. It reminds me of a system of highways. One highway shuts down, and the brain immediately starts building a new one to reroute traffic (and not like the painful Saskatchewan highway construction that takes all summer!)The brain is built to do this as quickly as possible! The problem is, when we get stuck in a routine, doing the same skills day in, day out, we really are only utilizing the same highways over and over. No need to build more highways if you’re never going anywhere new. Currently, I feel like my brain is housing Highway 11, from PA to Saskatoon. Although Highway 11 is being developed into a divided highway (how frickin exciting is that – that’ll shave 15 minutes off that 90 minute trip!), it’s still the same bleh highway from PA to Saskatoon. So, the way I see it, if I am constantly learning new skills, I fully expect my brain to work overtime, building highways like it's nobody's business! It should resemble the LA freeway system by the time I’m done. I want to realize the full potential of my brain. Oh man, I hope it doesn't let me down.
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| Yep. It happened. For real. |
Ok, third, and final reason for partaking in this experiment: only child syndrome. I grew up as an only child for 15 years. Through the magic of divorce, remarriage, and a surprise pregnancy! (sorry,Kayla, hopefully you knew?J), I now have 3 fabulous step-sisters and a super cool 17 year old half-sister. However, as a kid, I was raised as an only child. My poor parents still suffer from severe chronic neck pain after constantly turning to “Watch this, mommy!” “Look at me, daddy!” Presently, my poor husband has taken over the “watching” duties. If you’re gonna do something good, someone ought to be watching you, sharing in the excitement, right? Case in point: last week I was stand-up paddling on Candle Lake. The lake was busy - tons of people around. I decided to try a headstand on my board. That’s right, a headstand. I totally nailed it (I’ve been told my head is oddly flat), looked up to see who had witnessed such an unreal event, and was shocked to see that no one was looking. NO ONE. What a waste. If no one saw, did it even happen? So, to ensure no one misses my 12 month experiment, I will be providing written commentary, videos, and pictures to prove that it’s happening.
THE PLAN
Over the next 12 months I will attempt to learn 12 new skills. This isn’t a “bucket list” I work full time and am not, by any means, rich, so I won’t be “whitewater rafting in the alps” or “diving the Great Barrier Reef” (but, wouldn’t THAT be cool?). I will be learning new skills that might appear simple or mundane to some, but are completely outside of my current skill set. I won’t become exceptionally “good” at any of these skills (I mean, how proficient can you become in a month?) But, hey, I will give it my best shot! These are tasks that will take me out of my comfort zone, make Holowaty proud, produce more highways in my barren landscaped brain, and cause me to exclaim, “Watch this! Watch me!”
