The sun sets on another day…
We drive by a park all the time that has a strange view. I’m sure that there are people who stop there all the time and get lost in the fountains and the small lake. The bigger part to this is of course the sun set which lay down in this part today and I caught just a little while before the sun set. It is a testament to the statement that beauty is everywhere, and I was happy with the result.
When I wrote last night’s post I thought about a time a long time ago. There are a lot of things in the world that I’m really good at, and there are a lot of things that I suck at. Sorry if that’s triggering in this new world but I do suck at some things, maybe quite a few. One of the problems I faced from a younger age was baseball and softball.
My family was like many in Gen X even though I am a pre gen X person. It’s funny though, those people that are my age are in a weird era that doesn’t really match either boomer or generation X. Anyway, my family broke up when I was young, and I really had no one to teach me a lot of stuff that many people take for granted. Sure, I was out on the streets all the time playing but not baseball or softball or anything like that. Instead, I was lost in other things and my time with my grandparents taught me more. You see my grandfather had a lot of interesting skills. He was a hunter and a fisherman and a good tracker, fantastic gardener, and overly hard worker. I never realized all of the things that he taught me that helped shape who I was. From splitting wood at a young age until I was in my teens to learning how to hunt and shoot and track and a whole lot more. My grandfather pitched fast pitch softball and as I watched him play, I was amazed at the tricks he could make a ball do as it flew down towards the batter. He was also a good hitter but not the best runner in the world.
I didn’t have my own ball glove until I was in my early 20s. I had no need. I started learning and kept enjoying but was never really good at baseball or softball, again I had no need. That was until I was in my 40s and we were in an intramural softball team. It was work and I always volunteered to try to be part of the team and I found very quickly that I was not confident in catching or in hitting. Believe it or not I struck out a few times in softball and it was frustrating and angering to me. My solution was easy. I got a softball trainer and hung it on the basketball goal at the house and started practicing. The trainer is a softball on a string that rolls around and when you hit it of course it rolls back up and then comes back at you. Who ever thought it up was pretty good, and I just started learning how to hit the ball. Because of my stance and my size things didn’t always work right so I found a manner that I could move that I could hit the ball pretty much every time. The practice was intense, and I hit the ball thousands of times then got better and better.
At the next game there was disappointment around many when I came to bed. I would either do very poorly or slam the bulb so hard that it zoomed out of everywhere but was never consistent. This time was different. Somewhere over my training I had changed the way I hit and not only was I consistent, but I hit a very powerful ball. I got on base many times and did quite well and learned in the process that you can’t give up and you have to keep trying.
I know, dumb story. The lesson here today is if you suck at something it’s time to learn how to do it a different way. For me it was softball, for you it could be just about anything. I hope you realize that you can overcome anything if you want to and you should really really want to. My consistent push in life to overcome has given me what I think is a unique viewpoint of the world, that it can be conquered, that it is not good or bad but reflects who you are.
So as the sun sets on another day, get one of those softball trainers and have some fun or just go enjoy some time outside. I hope you realize how fantastic you are, and I hope the world supports you each and every day. Mostly I hope you support yourself and believe in your possibilities, I know you can do it, no matter what.
Sleep sweet, love life, and enjoy the night…