Ash Barty won Wimbledon last night and I could not be happier. There is no doubt that this girl has the ability to play tennis, but it is her perspective on the game and life that has allowed her to rise to the pinnacle of grand slam glory and to etch her name into the history books. Ash is at her best when she is carefree, enjoying the game that makes her happy without consequences, separating the game from her sense of self worth and letting go of the noise in her head that might be telling her she’s not good enough. Her ability to stay calm in the face of adversity and at critical moments is what brings out the best in her and helps her to overcome any demons. Focusing on the things she can control, her intention in the form of strategy and tactics, along with her carefully tailored mindset and staying calm is what separates her from many others and allows her to often go on to win seemingly unwinnable matches. However, this is not to say that Ash has always had this secret weapon in her tennis arsonary. It has only been with the help of her mindset coach, Ben Crowe that she has been able to reframe the not good enough mindset by calling to mind happy memories from her childhood, not taking life too seriously, putting things into perspective, giving herself permission to be imperfect and to go on a journey, and her understanding that winning a tennis match does not define who she is as a human being. Roger Federer, another great of the tennis world focuses his whole life on three words, humility, gratitude and humour. These three words have nothing to do with his ability to play tennis, but have everything to do with him becoming one of the greatest tennis players on the planet in terms of perspective. Ash emulates Roger in getting that perspective right and is shaping up to be a well respected and adored tennis great just like Roger. We salute you, both on and off the tennis court Ash and congratulate you on your first Wimbledon title.
Do you ever feel tired when you are standing still, however you can walk all day and not run out of steam? I know I do and it’s all to do with gravity. This is one of the questions tackled this week on the Crowd Science Podcast from the BBC World Service which you can listen to here. In a nutshell, our bodies are meant to move. When you’re standing still gravity pulls the blood down and it’s harder for the veins to return the blood back to the heart, and fluid to the brain which leads to feelings of tiredness, whereas when you are walking the contraction and relaxing of the muscles in your calves when you move acts like a hand pump squeezing the blood back up again through the veins to the heart and moving the blood around the body and driving the flow to the brain and bringing more oxygen and glucose. As a result of this synergy created when moving your body, you feel less tired than you do when you stand still.
Like many of us, I’m starting to feel the effects of lockdown fatigue even though we are only about to enter our third week of COVID restrictions. I suspect with daily infection numbers rising rapidly each day, that this lockdown won’t be going anyway any time soon. It’s funny how when there are no limitations on our movement we are quite happy to stay at home, however as soon as that freedom is taken away from us all we want to do is go out for a meal, to the shops or to take a holiday. This week I was craving a bowl of ramen and as luck would have it my significant other came across a busy little Japanese restaurant selling make it at home ramen kits. Chaco Ramen is the real deal and he arrived home with a kit containing a Tonkotsu style buttery pork broth with all the condiments included to make a bowl of Fatsoy ramen. More so, it took about 3 minutes to prepare, was delicious to slurp and satisfied all my ramen desires.
Chaco Ramen make at home Fatsoy Ramen kit
If you dare to dream of a perfect little getaway as soon as the lockdown restrictions ease up, you might like to escape to a quaint little Airbnb on the shores of Tasmania. You can get excited about the prospect by perusing through the feed @driftwoodcabin on Instagram. Closer to home a staycation right here in Sydney at a quaint little cottage @sunkissedcasa in the heart of coastal Avalon might be just the place to relax and put your feet up.
Until next time may your days be both serendipitous and enjoyable.
Eugenia
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