I’m not great at sports. In fact, over the years I’ve developed a reputation of being quite lousy. And that reputation is not without merit, either. Watch me throw a football once and you’ll see. For this reason, I ran cross country when I was in grade school and high school. And even then, I was remarkably average.

My church is in a softball league. Every summer, from April-August, a bunch of the guys in my church get together and play for the team. My brothers have all been on the team for years. Every year, I got the same thing: “Why don’t you play, too?” My response was always: “I’d just embarrass myself.”

Now, after a year of working out of my apartment, I start looking for ways to get out and socialize with people. So I joined the team this year. So far, it’s been fun. We’ve played a handful of games, won some, lost some, and enjoyed the camaraderie. Oh, and I don’t embarrass myself because I don’t play. Ever. I don’t consider myself to be a bad player. Softball was always one of those games where I was kinda-okay-average when I played. But outside of pinch hitting in the last inning of a game (and never when it was a close game), I just sit on the bench with my glove collecting dust next to me.

This past Tuesday was the same routine: I get there, I throw the ball around with the guys, share a few laughs, and do a few mock stretches, as if I’m going to play. Then I notice there are less guys there than usual. Next thing I know, I’m playing right field! There was nobody to be on the bench. Everybody had to play. This was my chance!

Once I was up in the batting order, I knew I wanted to pad my stats a little bit. After all, I had been a decent pinch-hitter up to this point, so I should be able to get a couple of hits today, maybe even drive in a run or two! Then our coach would notice my numbers and maybe put me in more often, right? I grab the bat and step into the batter’s box. The first pitch comes down about a foot in front of the base, but I very nearly swung at it. I was so excited! The next pitch probably wasn’t great, but I swung with all my might. I came over the top of the ball and grounded out. As I ran past first base and turned around, a sharp pain rocketed through my lower back. I tried too hard to be the hero, and my back was victim. I spent the rest of the game trying to keep it loose, and I only got on base once (and got thrown out on a double play).

As I laid in bed last night (which, as I said, is where I get many ideas for posts), I thought about the lessons one could learn from this type of experience. Here are a few that I came up with:

In major situations, you need to keep a level head.

When I was ever at-bat, I wasn’t thinking about waiting for a good pitch. All I could think about was how great I was going to hit it. I kept getting too anxious and swung at bad pitches. All I did was hit easy ground balls. In batting practice, when nice and relaxed, I can hit some good line drives. But because I was so concerned with how I was batting, I couldn’t hit it square on the mark like I know I can do.

On an airplane, or during fire drills, they always stress how everyone should stay calm during an emergency. There’s a reason for that: as long as you stay calm, you can think clearly and keep yourself from making stupid decisions. Heck, you can apply this knowledge to anything! Think about serious financial situations. If you are overly stressed about your bills, you prevent your brain from really analyzing the situation and finding opportunities for you. In every situation in life, a clearer head will help you get yourself out of it safely and, in most cases, quickly.

If you make a mistake, just deal with the consequences.

After the game, everybody got together for a little cookout. No chair could keep me comfortable for very long. My girlfriend gave me some ibuprofen to help get me through the night. The next morning, when I woke up, I could barely put on a pair of pants. I couldn’t even reach my feet to put socks or shoes on. I slipped on sandals and hobbled down to the car to go get some more ibuprofen. Sleeping is still mildly uncomfortable, and I keep fidgeting in my chair as I type this.

We all screw up. We make poor purchases, or we misplace our priorities. Any time we do that, we pay for it, in one way or another. Do you whine about it? You put yourself in the situation! You set yourself up to suffer these consequences – own up to it, accept it, and take the fall. You’ll learn from it, and you won’t fall into the habit of victimizing yourself.

Put others ahead of yourself – if you are just worried about yourself, you will fail.

I wasn’t thinking about how the team could band together and come back from our 10-2 deficit (or whatever it was – it was a lot, that’s all I remember). I kept thinking about my stats. I kept thinking about “being the hero”. I wanted the feeling of crushing the ball and the cheers from the guys. It was selfish.

What motivates you? Is it money? Are you just trying to hoard as much cash as possible? Is it bragging rights? Do you do things just so that you can tell people you did that? Those are really selfish reasons to get you through life. If you follow them, you are doomed to fail eventually. Let your family and friends motivate you to do your best. Help them and take care of them. That’s the way to get through life!

Feeling sorry for yourself won’t fix anything.

When I woke up the morning after the game, all I wanted to do was lay in bed. I felt like that’s all I could do. But, when back muscles are tight, I know that the best thing to do is stretch them out and loosen them up. So I try to stretch every chance I get and walk around and do things. It’s the only way to get through it. If I sat around and moped about it, I’d probably still want to just lie in bed. My back would never get better.

When bad things happen to you, it’s tempting to sit around and cry about it. And don’t get me wrong: it’s healthy to have that emotional release. You don’t want to bottle up bad feelings. But get the crying out of the way, and then start to do something about it. In nearly every situation in life, you can do something about it. Get up, dust yourself off, and start taking steps towards healing!

Next Tuesday, I’m sure I will be back on the bench, cheering for the fellas and enjoying my one token at-bat that I get every week. But if I get the opportunity next time, I’m going to slow myself down and work with the team. Maybe then I won’t be hobbling back to my car.

Get great, practical advice sent straight to your inbox every week! For more information on The Practical Nerd Rules for Life, click here. Plus, learn how you can get a copy of my FREE ebook!

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.