u/belle_epoxy

Thought you'd all enjoy this:

In my (extremely beginner) class the other day, the instructor told us to stay confident on court, even if we made mistakes. So as I stood on the baseline, preparing to flail my way through another forehand drill, I whispered to myself, 

"I bet I could take a set off Rafa"

AND IT WORKED

I started hitting the ball better! Then I started imagining Iga's footwork when I was trying to get to the ball, and then Amanda's form when I went to hit a backhand. And that helped too. See! Sometimes memes and Reddit posts actually make a difference.

I frequently see posts in here along the lines of "I'm X years old, is it too late to learn how to play?" or "I have X limitation, should I do it?" Yes, you should. I'm 51. I've got a connective tissue disorder/chronic illness, so my dominant shoulder and hip partially dislocate a lot, and my ankle rolls very, very badly, (among lots of other problems). I've heard these are all important joints for tennis. Even so, last week I took my first tennis lesson, exactly one week after my 51st birthday.

Pretty sure the last time I touched a racquet or stood on a court was in the 1980s, as I have vague memories of some kind of lessons, but whatever they were, they were short lived. So I am truly a beginner. And I'm pretty terrible! I like to think I'm the third best in my class (there are four people).

As an adult, I think one of the hardest things to do is put yourself in a situation in which you look dumb, incompetent, uncoordinated, clueless, or all of the above. It's so uncomfortable. But I think it's important to do. It's ok to not know something or to be bad at it. Honestly I might never be good at tennis, but oh my god is it so much fun, and oh my god do I already have a much better appreciation for what the pros do.

In the first class, our instructor joked that he would get me an e-bike so I could get up to the net faster (I genuinely laughed). In the second class, my main goal was "make contact with the ball more often." And I did! Sometimes even pretty well with my backhand! We will not discuss my forehand at this time.

In the moments when I feel self-conscious or frustrated (I would estimate those moments are 48 of the 55 minutes of class), I remind myself: YOU HAVE NEVER DONE THIS BEFORE, CHILL OUT. I also remind myself of all the times pros whiff or shank or stumble in ungainly ways or smash into the net, and they're not ranked almost last in the world.

So if you've been putting it off, like I kept doing, stop. Go sign up. Put your ego in a locker and let yourself look (limbs flailing) and feel (meltdown imminent) like Medvedev for an hour or two. It's pretty awesome.

ETA: Copy-pasting this from u/SafetySmurf's comment below, feedback/advice welcome, both general beginner advice and specific stretching/safety advice:

>Ps: I’m open to any tips or suggestions regarding stretches, injury prevention, etc, because you don’t know what you don’t know, and I want to get to keep playing for a long time.

Hello lovely fragrance experts, I'm hoping I can get some help/advice from you. Mods, if this post is not allowed, please let me know and I'll ask this advice elsewhere!

I have a bottle of Byredo Reine de Nuit extrait de parfum – the dark squat bottle that does not have the atomizer. Although I can't remember precisely when I got it, I know it was in 2018 or 2019 when I was living in Stockholm. I wore it a handful of times, but mostly it sat out on my dresser or in its box in a storage bin in my closet. It's hard to tell how much is in the bottle, but I can definitely hear it slosh around if I hold it up to my ear.

It is a gorgeous fragrance and I wanted to love it on me (obviously why I bought it) but it's just too syrupy for me. I am, for better or worse, Carnal Flower in winter and L'Artisan Parfumeur Fleur d'Oranger in summer – either until I die or until my 2005/2007 bottles finally run out.

Anyway, my question is: What's the best way to sell this bottle without knowing exactly how much is left? I have the original box and there's got to be a lot left, but the bottle is so dark I can't see inside it! Thoughts? Thank you xx