When Life Throws a Fastball

I don't often get off topic and try to keep this boxing site completly boxing oriented, but from time to time you are going to have to put up with an exception - these are my ramblings.  Tonight is one of those nights, and despite this posts off topic remarks, it does have relevance to most of your lives - perhaps even a bit of motivation, so bear with me.

It's almost midnight and I'm stuck in a hotel half way across the country from where I live.  My flight was cancelled due to a huge snowstorm where my plane was supposed to land.

I have a meeting tomorrow at 1300hrs and it is highly unlikely I am going to make it back to work in time to meet people that are travelling almost seven hours to meet with me and my team regarding a project we have in the works.  While I have someone in location that can take the meeting, it's one of those things that you really want to do in person.

I have been away from home for nearly two weeks and my wife and kids are going to wake up to find that  I'm not coming home for yet another day.  This is nothing new as I'm in the army and deployments last much longer, but expectations exist and when they are broken, it results in heartache.

So what am I whining about?

Nothing.  The point is that crap happens in your life.  Someone once said that life is about reaction.  10% of life is the result of things happening to you and 90% is how you respond.  The same goes for you and your lives.  Boxing training will never be easy.  Some days you will feel incredible and you will be able to hit the heavybag with extreme power and speed, dodge and slip every punch your partner throws at you and have endless amounts of energy.  Other days, you will question why you are putting yourself through the torture and training - what are you trying to accomplish?

Well, I'm here to tell you that life is going to throw you some fastballs.  Like me, you are going to find yourself in situations where you are out of your comfort zone, out of your routine, and considering yourself a failure for not following through.  Guess what?  You are tricking yourself and not realizing the full extent of your situation.

Don't allow outside circumstances beyond your control to influence your thinking.  Consider for a moment that maybe the life you live is scripted and you missed that flight for a reason.  Perhaps missing that flight will mean you actually get to see your kids again rather than burning up in a fiery inferno plummeting towards the earth.  That wise man was right when he indicated that life is about reaction.  Yes, things happen, but you can choose how you respond to those things.  That is the control you have over your circumstances -- how you decide to react to any given situation.

To be totally honest with you, you could be in the worst possible situation and look around and think to yourself that there is no hope, no reason to bother trying anymore.  That is the time you have to slap yourself and realize that there is always an option.  Everything comes down to choice at its most basic level.  It is only yourself and your way of dealing with things that is polluting your judgement and tainting your reactions.

Always look for the good in your situattion.  Yes, I am stuck in this place for another night, but I'm not crashing a plane because freezing rain has frozen my controls.  Yes, I am spending another night away from my family, but I like to think it has happened for a reason -- that this conference was worthwhile attending and that by missing tonight, I will be rewarded with two or three nights in the future.  Yes, my flight was cancelled, but did the world end -- no.  Did I end up sleeping out in the cold?  No, I am in a warm hotel room writing this article -- one of my most favorite pasttimes - am I really that bad off?

Perhaps you need to ask yourself the hard questions when things aren't quite working how you believe they should.  Maybe it is a sign from higher -- an uncontrollabe urge to please something much bigger than yourself.  Whatever the reason, it's your life and you control 100% of your reactions to any situation.  With enough practice and experience and guidance, you can control your reactions and ensure that no matter what happens to you, 90-100% of the time, you will find the good in the situation and prosper because of that.

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