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?
Edit: Thanks everyone for the words of encouragement. It probably says a lot about what I think about people who choose to mind their own business while engaging in things they enjoy in their spare time. I’ve learned a lot here. There also doesn’t seem to be a juggling/flow arts Lemmy community so maybe that’s something we can do.
I’d say that’s exactly what the park is for.
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.
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.
the only barrier to this is in your head
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.
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.
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 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 all over 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.
Sounds really cool. Weird? Not at all.
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.
It’s possibly the least disruptive thing you can do that may also entertain some passersby
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.
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.
Compared to other public spaces, no.
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!”
