Juggling

Ah, juggling, perhaps the most odd skill that a person can learn. Opinions of juggling vary from person to person, some people see it as a highly skilled art form, others as a silly circus act. Whatever your current opinion on juggling is, I will say that learning to juggle was one of the best skills I ever acquired. It takes a special kind of person to want to learn to juggle, but if you do I promise it will make your life a little bit better.

Reasons to Learn to Juggle:
1. Brain Exercise: Just like learning to walk or ride a bike, juggling exercises your brain in a new and different way. It is probably THE best way to simultaneously exercise your right and left sides of your brain, and some studies have shown that people who learn to juggle exhibit an increase in grey matter (which is good).

2. Stress Relief: While juggling may bring its own forms of stress (learning is quite frustrating), it is nonetheless a great way to completely forget about anything else that is going on in your life. I'm serious. Even once you learn and feel pretty comfortable with it, just the act of juggling will cause your brain to be firing on all cylinders, and it won't be able to think about that big report you have to do or all the errands you have to run. I learned to juggle when I was in college and practicing new tricks was a great way to break up a monotonous day of studying.

3. Impress your friends at parties!: OK, so this one you have to be careful with, but if you really want to assert yourself as the weirdest guy in a room, picking up a few random items and juggling them is a pretty guaranteed way to turn heads. Reactions can range from "huh, that's strange" or "duuuuuude check out this guy juggling, that's AWESOME!" The key is to know your audience and not overdo it. Don't try to draw too much attention to yourself either, no one likes the person who is starving for attention.

4. Meet new friends: If you are a socially awkward person who wants to interact with others but is not sure how to go about doing so, then going to a local juggling club is a great way to meet others with a common interest. Even if you can't juggle (yet), most clubs will probably welcome you with open arms and throw some balls in your hands and teach you how. Check out if your town has one (most do) and give them a visit. You are guaranteed to meet some interesting people, and they are usually very friendly.

5. It's just fun!: You may not think so now, but juggling is a very enjoyable activity, and once you get the hang of three balls, you will get hooked and keep wanting to learn more tricks.

So I hope this has inspired you to want to learn to juggle, now go find three balls and give it a shot! In the future I'll put a how-to link, but for now there are tons of youtube videos, so go check them out!

3 thoughts on “Juggling

  1. Pingback: How the Terms "Genius" and "Gifted" Can be Considered Offensive

  2. I'm glad that you talked about how juggling can be a great way to completely forget about anything else that is going on in your life. My cousin just got through with a rough separation, and I really think he needs something to keep him busy. I also that think he's interesting enough of a person to even consider learning juggling. I'll be sure to give him his first set of juggling sticks so he can start practicing.

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