txrene5w的部落格

Half the game is 90% mental.

--Yogi Berra

A few summers ago, I started playing softball in a men's league here in Sussex. Before we started, I learned that the team that I was signing up for came in dead last, the previous season. "Oh well", I thought "how bad could it have been$%:" When I asked the question to the coach, he told me that they didn't even win one game that year, so they had no-where to go but up! I loved that optimism, so I said that I would love to play!

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As I have been planning what I would write this week, I happened to find this little jewel in my journal regarding playing on that team: Well, this afternoon, we played our 4th game, and yes, we are maintaining our average! But today seemed different. We lost terribly, but when the game was over, the guys were in a better mood than when we started. Other than the fact that we lost, we also got rained on and played in a mud bath, but even that didn't seem to matter. As ball after ball was hit at us, and we missed, dropped, overthrew bases or slipped in the mud, we laughed at and cajoled each other and generally had a great time. I'm sure that the other team thought that we were a little off, but we didn't care, we were having a great time. Even though we lost in the scorebook, we still were winners in our own eyes.

Kind of like life isn't it$%: There are days when you really don't want to play the game of life, because it's raining on your parade, but you have to go on. It's at this point in life that we are faced with some of our harder choices. Do I stay down, or do I get up again and try to hit the ball again$%: Some days, this is a terribly hard choice to make, but it is one that needs to be made all the same. We have to play with what skills and abilities we have, and forget the excuses. Sure we may lose some games, but if we choose to feel like a loser, that is what we'll be.

We've heard this story quite a few times in life. You get a person who seems to have all the odds stacked up against them, and still they find their way to success. It probably didn't happen on their first try, or their second or even their third, but still, they never gave up, they learned from every experience, and turned things around for themselves.

The hard thing in life is learning not to make or rely on excuses. Too many people fall back on the negative happenings in their past, when they are under pressure or have made a mistake. It seems as if it is much easier for some people to blame or point a finger at someone else, than it is to take ownership of a problem. You are better than that! Resist the urge to blame someone else when a mistake has been made. Stand back and take a really good look at it, admit that you have made it, admire it for all that it's worth, learn from it, own up to it and move on. Admitting that you have made the mistake is a very powerful way of building self-confidence and gaining respect from others, not to mention the self-respect that you will gain.

This week, try not to focus on the rain clouds in your game of life, just focus on playing the game to the best of your ability, and you will come out a winner, any way you look at it. Who knows, by focusing on the positive and using the law of averages, you may just hit one out of the park!

Have your best week ever!

Paul