“I remember running
through the wet grass, falling a step behind”
If you had a chance to
do it over, would you change anything at all? That is the question circling the
air at various times in our lives. The light at the end of the tunnel hangs in
view. We know it does. It can’t get any worse. We hope the light comes sooner
rather than later.
I’ve been cooked, down
and out, practically wiped off the tennis court by opponents who could beat me
even if they played with a wooden racquet. It’s all part of the game. You are,
eventually, going to lose. In fact, you will probably begin by losing. There
are seldom few people who come out swinging in their first tennis match. The
sooner you accept defeat, the better your chances of improving as a player. Not
only is it difficult to experience defeat first-hand, but it’s just as excruciating
to watch it if you’ve been through that set of emotions yourself. I’ve seen
more than a handful of severe beat-downs occur between the lines. When it’s
happening to someone else, it’s easy to point out mistakes. Soon, however, you
begin to feel the pain of the player being pounded into the ground. The player,
who cannot do anything right save for lose points, becomes someone you pity.
Isn’t it like that elsewhere in life? How many of us don’t give a hoot about
other people’s problems until we have those same problems jolt us into reality?
You have to learn to
accept hardship. I don’t care who you are, you’re going to have a wrench thrown
into the toolbox of your life at some point. What will you do? How do you react
to a brandishing racquet across the court? How do you respond to life’s strains
and exertions? Do you spit in the face of the worst of it, sink into the net or
continue to toss the ball high in the air until the match is over…until the light
appears again? We all have a choice when the rough patches, the rough
opponents, challenge our comfort zone. Think about all the unfair, difficult
times you’ve faced in your lives. When the worst was over, what did you think?
Would you have changed the circumstances or would you have changed your
reaction?
I think sometimes we
have to begin by losing. We need to go through something difficult to wisely
earn the easy. It makes sense in tennis. Unless your name is Pete Sampras, you
probably weren’t born with a gifted serve and perfect forehand. And even Pete played
through hardship. It’s the same way
through life’s rocky road. This should not be a revelation. Everyone deals with
problems of varying sorts. But sometimes it helps us to remember that. On a related note, my college tennis coach
once recommended a book called “The Dip” by Seth Godin. He explained the book’s lesson as: no matter
how good our lives are, no matter how happy we get or how successful we are in
our jobs, we will go through ‘dips’ in our lives. Successful people are able to
decide quickly what to do, while others wallow in in their dip until it’s too
late. I think ole Coach’s words have stayed with me all these years. I never
read the book, but somehow I didn’t have to read it to know what he was saying.
“They say the worst is
over”
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