Submitted 3 weeks ago by RacerX@lemm.ee to nostupidquestions@lemmy.world
I’m an adult male who works downtown near a pretty nice park. Now that the weather is getting better, I’d like to get outside at lunch and work on juggling.
I’ve never done it because I don’t want to the the weirdo that’s juggling in the middle of the day, but I don’t really have any other time when I can practice in an open space.
Would it be weird if you were in a park and a grown up man was there juggling?
When you’re 20, you care what everyone thinks about you
When you’re 40, you don’t give a shit what anyone thinks about you.
When you’re 60, you’ll realize no one was thinking about you the whole time. It will be more empowering than depressing.
Skip the worry. Do you. It’s public space and hurts no one.
I keep trying to reinforce this for my wife at her work. People tend to grossly overestimate how much time others spend thinking about them. They don’t really think about you at all.
Too many people think they are the center of the universe, and everybody is watching them, so they never figure out the people they think are watching, think they are the center of their universe, too, and everyone is watching them.
and hurts no one.
That depends entirely on what he’s juggling and how skilled he is.
If they were farting glitter and juggling I would certainly be impressed.
“You’ll worry less about what people think about you when you realize how seldom they do.”
David Foster Wallace
I love this comment just for the fact you point out that no one really thinks about you and even if they do, their opinion isn’t relevant.
I myself am 50 and I gave up many years ago even considering what other people think about me, as long as I behave in an ethical and kind way.
This to say, I cannot imagine the daily stress of today’s generation, where every moment is spent disingenuously performing for others on SM and trying to get them to notice you
I’m approaching 40 And it was hard enough with cable internet being all the rage.
Now that kind of connectivity is 24/7 and on personal pocket sized devices.
I don’t envy today’s youth.
Would it be weird if you were in a park and a grown up man was there juggling?
No. It would be depressing if I was in a park and no one was there juggling, or trying to learn to ride a unicycle, or failing to slackline, or setting up a tent for the first time before going on an adventure, or doing yoga, or practicing artistic moves.
To me, that’s just what people do in a park. That’s (also) what parks are for.
When you start, for the first 5 minutes or so, people will look at you, maybe they’ll even point at you, maybe even laugh.
But unless you live in a really shitty depressing place, that laugh will be one of joy, and they’ll look and point at you cause they are interested.
Source: I did all those activities in parks. No one ever laughed at me, and I never got the feeling they thought I’m a weirdo.
You’re spot on. I’m always looking at people doing stuff like that, and it’s always with envy of their ability to do stuff in public. The guy falling off his skateboard, the fat guy in the pool, the weird meditation circle.
We need more of it. The world is a much better place when we can see other people enjoying and bettering themselves.
This is why you can also maybe pick a spot where your back is facing most foot traffic and people can point and look all they want without distracting from your practice.
Or if you’re ambitious, you practice in front of the busiest footpath and get all of the embarrassment of failing in front of an audience out of the way early.
So nothing can phase you later when you perform.
the only barrier to this is in your head
Absolutely not weird, and any normal adult would just walk by and think hey cool.
Unpopular opinion time, the only people, and I mean literally, the only people that are even suggesting it’s weird or thinking other people think it’s weird, are the sweatys that have never actually been to a park, or understand the dynamics of park people.
Ive seen this a lot and i don’t think it is weird. One thind I’ll mention is people are probably going to stop and watch you, ask questions, maybe even ask if they can try. If that won’t bother you while practicing then I’d say go for it and get out there juggling. You could probably leave a hat or something on the ground and people will toss you a couple of coins just for letting them watch.
On posts like these, the question to ask yourself is “if I saw a video on the Internet of someone being a dick to a person doing this thing, would they look like an asshole?” If the answer is yes, then it’s fine to do.
That’s a great trick
the fact that you’re doing it during lunch makes it not weird, IMO, because that’s just the convenient place and time to do it.
it would be weird (not bad) to leave home and go to the park to do it
Yes, it is.
Do it anyway.
Love that one 😄 Yeah maybe some find it weird. 😊 Go for it!
It won’t work on all people, but it will work for the right people!
I mean, if a person has the urge to juggle in public, it means they want to be seen and maybe connect with randos over it.
That’s wholesome AF
I mean, if you take “weird” to mean “abnormal”, then yes, it would be very weird. You will likely be the only person juggling in the park. But weird doesn’t mean bad - just different.
On the other hand, your coworkers probably spend their lunch breaks eating McDonalds and scrolling IG in their cars. Juggling in the park sounds like a way better use of your time.
Seems about the kind of activity people tend to do in parks.
Unless you’re causing harm to other people, what someone might think is rarely a good reason to not do something you genuinely want to.
Na, totally fine. Go for it mate.
Weird as in outside of the norm? Sure, just a bit. Weird as in dangerous or creepy? Not in the slightest. If I were out for a walk and saw someone juggling at the park, that would make me happy. I wish I felt as comfortable to do things outside.
It’s also within the realm of things you wouldn’t be that surprised to see.
As a professional juggler I say go for it! That’s where I practise and never had any bad experiences in public parks.
True story: I used to worry so much about what people thought. One day I did an experiment, dyed my hair lime green and went around to the shops, library etc. Nobody batted an eyelid and I realised it was just me.
Nowadays I do “weird” things in public every weekend, and people usually pay in advance!
I walked through a park just a bit ago and there was a juggling group performing. There’s also a person in my city that hula hoops continuously while dancing around downtown, often on rollerskates. It’s all a delight to see in our typical modern hell scape, even if they weren’t good at it, I enjoy people having fun.
Just don’t wear a vest, bowler/tophat or wingtips.
On second thought, do wear any/all of those and be sure to wax your mustache. Leave a hat or box for tips, I’ll throw some in.
It’s possibly the least disruptive thing you can do that may also entertain some passersby
It’s weird to juggle anywhere, but you shouldn’t let that stop you cause everybody’s weird in some way or another and that’s fine. A park seems like as good a place as any.
Sounds really cool. Weird? Not at all.
Most people are going to think it’s cool, it’s not any more weird than playing the guitar on the street or playing on a public piano.
I live near a big public park and it would be strange if there wasn’t someone juggling there on a sunny day.
Not as weird as at a funeral
I intend to demand that there be juggling at my funeral
Now that I think of it, having a dude silently juggling in the corner during the service would actually be kind of wholesome in some weird way.
I’ve seen bagpipers doing their thing in random parks. Alone, with a bagpipe, standing in a field, practicing. Bagpipers who needed the practice, btw.
I thought it was cool. Nobody seemed to mind.
You do you!
Yeah but that’s kind of arguable. Bagpipes make a lot of noise so it’s just understandable there may be some objections. I love it when a piper is down the street so you can hear the music echoing through the buildings, but it is loud and may not be for everyone
Juggling is no different than the yoga or tai chi class in the next open area. There’s no impact on anyone sharing the space, except possibly some social conventions. Just do it (be careful not to put a coffee mug out or you may get donations)
Everything’s weird.
As long as you’re not actively hurting someone, do what you love.
If someone sees you and thinks “wow look at this weirdo” it’s on them, not you. And in truth they’re probably just jealous of someone that’s having a good time :)
Plus, don’t read into that unnecessarily. It could be someone seeing you and thinking “that’s unusual. How cool!”
I don’t think so, but people might stare a bit if you do it in a busy place of the park.
I would look for a place with a bit of quiet. I saw people do a variety of things in parks. When they choose a quiet place, I’ll assume they want peace for there outside hobby and give them that.
Compared to other public spaces, no.
Are you even a juggler if you don’t go play in public from time to time? It’s a gift for others to see.
Juggling in the park is exactly the kind of things parks are for. Anyone who thinks it’s weird has crippling hang-ups; their opinions can be safely disregarded.
I am an adult male who goes to the park / beach to play with and practise my levitation wand (flow toy) which is way less “normal” that just juggling.
Aside from the fact that who gives a fuck, it is a public park and anyone who thinks a man juggling is weird is the one with the problem the opposite is actually true in my experience.
The majority of people ignore me and the ones that don’t are genuinely interested in what the fuck I’m doing or how it works. Some people will watch from a distance, some people will engage and ask but no one tells me it is weird.
Go practise your juggling man!
Yeah I guess I thought it might be weird because I don’t really ever see people hanging out doing flow stuff outside of clubs on specific days, but I will definitely get out there.
bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 3 weeks ago
I’d say that’s exactly what the park is for.