Coaching Series

Missing Out  

My daughter looked up with tear swollen eyes, "mom, I just can't do it".   She had spent months preparing for a school project on the ill effects from smoking.  She took her project happily to school, excited, knowing it was absolutely wonderful.  So many hours had gone into it.  She placed the project in the back of the room.  It was so large that she had to use a green garbage bag to carry it in.   She was not called upon to show her project that day and was told to be ready tomorrow.  She carefully put the project in the cloak room.  The next morning it was gone.  Some weeks later we discovered the janitor mistook it for trash.  The teacher accused her of not preparing and gave her a failing mark.  She said nothing came home and was silent.  When her report card came the last week of school, I asked about the mark and she explained that she lost the project, then told the whole story.  I told her to tell the teacher the truth.  She said she tried and he did not believe her.  I phoned the school teacher.  In short, the project was found still in the janitor room!  Finally, My daughter presented her project but with less zeal.  The teacher asked why she had not continued to pursue the issue.  With a 10 year old voice she replied "I wanted you to like me."

Life throws things at us.  Some things we deserve, some we do not.  They come just the same.  We get embarrassed, make a mistake, forget, get falsely accused and a whole host of other things I'm sure you can think about.  Life does happen and we get knocked down many times over.   When the bucket gets full enough, we stop living a little less robust than we did before and start making excuses.  We settle for less.  We don't run to win.  We may claim we are content because we just don't want to try for what we really want.  We lie to ourselves and eventually begin to believe the lie.  We blame others, circumstances and slowing become half the person we could be.

Then we learn something new.  Some people learn from almost every negative.  Even we ourselves have learned some non threatening things.  Our emotions based on the past have held us back and some of us begin to fight back.  The only way out is through--through the emotions.  Emotions that sometimes are overwhelming.  At first we may feel sick or like we are going to die if we walk through the emotion to get to a better place.  It takes courage but often we are tired of being weak, so we walk through...and we don't die.  In fact, we become a little bit stronger.  In the beginning it is a rocky road.  We go forward three steps, two back but we are moving forward.   We have found the key.  We are using it.  We are using it to sing our songs with all our joy, share ourselves fully, engage in opportunities that we used to shrink it.  We have found ourselves again.  Our energy renews.  we are living much more fully, much more fully perhaps than if we had not been set back.

What has held you back?  How did you overcome the situation?  How long did it take?  What is still holding you back?   Share below: