I came to some serious realizations last night when I was talking with my husband about my hooping frustrations.

1. I have the same issues with other things I do that I do with hooping, ie: frustration to the point of rage, breaking down in tears, wanting to quit and never do the activity again, etc.
2. I am a quitter if something doesn't instantly come naturally to me.
3. The only activity that I do where frustration or self-directed anger/loathing NEVER happens is during weight and cardio training at the gym.
4. When I'm at the gym and something doesn't go right (say I can't lift to my full load capacity, or I'm not running/cycling as efficiently/quickly as usual), my response is *always* that it's no big deal.
5. Furthermore, when something doesn't go right at the gym, I also *always* feel like, hey, look at what my body can do now versus a week/month/YEAR ago, and I get so positive and excited about where I've come from and all the awesome things ahead of me that my body will be able to do and I leave the gym feeling strong and confident and sexy and AWESOME.

When I add these up, it begs the biggest question: Why can't I take other activities in the same stride that I take my gym progress?

Because, really, how different are lifting and cardio from hooping? They're all exercise, they all require time, patience and effort to progress in and they all require consistent practice to maintain progress thus far and to advance.

So what's my problem? Why can I not connect these things and merge my feelings about the gym with my feelings about hooping? Is it because I see hooping as more of an art form, a tool of expression, and I see the gym as the path to make my body healthier, sculpted, strong, and better than it was?

All I want to do is merge the gym mentality with hooping and eradicate the negativity that comes out of me when I hoop.