What Derby Gave Me

There's been some ugly in my derby, particularly this year. This has helped...

I thought it would be helpful to focus on what derby brought to my life, rather than get mired down in regretting that I'd ever put on quad skates.

• Got me in shape. Seriously. When I first started years ago, my endurance was shit. Someone recommended C25k. I kept getting stuck around week 4/5, so I just decided to run intervals. And running intervals does wonders for my depression. Plus, now my endurance is decent. I know I'm not going to die.
• Confidence to wear quirky outfits. It opened up a world of cute leggings, tights, booty shorts, colors, and the confidence to rock them. Wear whatever the fuck you want!
• Hooping. I'm not sure I would have found it (again). As a teenager, I had a cheap hoop, and would have my mom time me to see how long I could waist hoop. I could go for ages. But it never occurred to me to do anything more with it. When I was skating with that rec league in 2015, I was researching ways to improve my core. And hooping came up.
• Thus Lyra. If I hadn't found hooping, would I have found Lyra? I'm not sure. Certainly not when I needed it the most. Lyra is fixing what derby broke.