Step Up!
God gets you to the plate but once you’re there you’re on your own. -Ted Williams(1918-2002), former member of the Boston Red Sox and last major league player to bat over .400.
Have you ever been involved in a group discussion and found yourself standing at the back of the group just listening; your mind swirling with thoughts and reactions; chomping at the bit to speak up but something just seems to be keeping you back? Maybe it’s the personality of the group leaders that intimidate you. They seem so opinionated, so well spoken, so in command of their thoughts. You know that you have something to add, but just feel paralyzed.
What if you spoke up and sounded stupid? What if your question was so basic that the whole group would have a collective laugh at your expense? Maybe it’s just easier to sit back and take what you’ve heard and go try to figure it all out on your own…after all, that way you could spare yourself the embarrassment of sounding silly. You begin to fall into a pattern of behavior of just becoming a passive participant in all aspects of your life. Maybe you even begin to resent those that push themselves to the front of the pack.
What’s even worse is that you start to resent those that you once enjoyed. You blame them for keeping you back. You see them as the tripping point in your success. Now with your thoughts all bottled up more than ever, your grudge builds and you begin to look for a new home; a new group where you can finally get everything you want and need to succeed. This time you’ll hand pick the situation and all will be right. So you blow up the current situation and move on, truly empowered!
But hold on for a second. What has really changed? Sure maybe the grass is now different but is it better. More importantly, are you and different? Are you any better? First of all, most of everything that you have built is now left behind…sure I understand that much of what you have you can bring with you, but any new situation is like starting from scratch…literally point zero. Of course change can be good for the soul, but only if the soul is truly understood to begin with.
Let’s consider that most of us never sit still enough to figure out what we really even want, Is it more money, more freedom, more happiness. How do we get it? Where do we find it? Why not keep running around until we get it? Well I tell you why…because it never happens that way. You think I’m wrong? Then start studying the people that you think really have what you want. How did they get it? Did they run around like headless chickens until they got it? Of course not!
The first thing they did was take a full personal inventory and figure out who they really were. They took an accurate viewpoint of their own strengths and weaknesses. Their own yin and yang. They then matched their skills up with people and situations that brought out their best. No, not some smooth little sailing trip either. Rather a journey filled with challenges and tripping points; falling forward and filing themselves to success. However the most important characteristic of successful people is that they eventually emerge from the back of the pack and demand a better life. After all, if we want better, we must step up!!
