For your consideration…..
After a weekend of sports I understood why this analogy was given to us today. Initially I thought about teams in general. But I was corrected and directed to use swimming as an analogy to life.
In swimming there are no bench warmers. Everyone participates. In swimming you practice and usually find that you have a best or preferred stroke. But that doesn’t mean you only do that stroke. You do all of them. In swimming you work to get your “personal best”. In swimming your team stands on the sidelines and cheers you on as you do them into beating their best time. In swimming you swim a lot of laps to compete in those short events. Think about it. You know how it is when your head into water. No matter how many people are around you, you are still alone in your own head. All those laps create a lot of time with yourself.
And so too it is with life. We are all part of one team. We are here to cheer each other on into doing their “personal best”as they do us. And we are here to find our life’s purpose and to put the necessary work in to get that “personal best.” Do we always succeed in getting a new best time? No, but that does not mean that we don’t try or that we give up or that we do any less work. We keep at it. We keep doing those “laps.” We keep jumping in and spending that alone time with ourselves and get the clarity we need. We are not a “bench warmer.” We have a spot on the team and a responsibility to make it count. It is our job to put the spirit into our effort so that our team is much greater than the sum of our individual efforts.
That is the HOPE. And so it is.
Bit by bit, piece by piece, HOPE by HOPE action steps anyone can take……
-Meditate. Get alone with yourself. See what your best self has to say.
-Drink lots of water.
-Get outdoors and soak up some sunshine. Take in at least 10 deep breaths.
-It’s Monday. Try to work up some excitement. Consider it an opportunity. Don’t waste it wishing for “hump day” or better yet Friday.
-Journal what you are grateful for.
What made me smile yesterday……
-It was cool enough to spend a lot of the day outdoors.
-Watching my amazing AJ’s baseball games.
-My Shannon understands the high road.
-Listening to Alex about her latest adventure.
-Talking with Jody.
-A cool night where we could sleep with the windows and doors wide open. Ahhhhhh.
Love, Blessings and Gratitude,
Chris
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