"Duck"

            Once again I was reading 97: Random thoughts about Life, Love, and Relationships by Justin Lookadoo and I came across another story that I had to reflect on. The story was about Justin’s first time out golfing. “The very first time I went golfing, I hit a duck. In the air. In mid-flight. Don’t think that this bird was just sitting on the water and got startled as my golf ball skipped in the pond. No. This bird was in the air, flying, as my golf ball thunked off its side.” “For the rest of my game, I kept thinking about that duck.”He goes on to talk about how his thoughts about the duck affected his performance out on the course.
            Close to the end of the story Justin begins to wrap up the purpose behind it all. “Ducks are going to fly in front of your shot from time to time. It’s part of the game, but you have to realize that your whole game can and will suffer if you spend the whole time thinking about the one incredibly crazy shot that you couldn’t possibly have predicted. There were more holes on the course than just the one with the pond. But because I couldn’t get past it, my whole game was ruined. When you have eighteen holes to play, you can’t lose focus on one bad shot.” How very true this passage is! I remember several times in my life where I focus on that one bad shot or bad decision and it affects the rest of my life so much in a negative way that it would’ve just been easier if I would’ve moved on.

I remember a story from a dad that went along with Justin’s story. The father had a son and a daughter and one nice day he took them out to a baseball diamond to hit a few balls. The son was older and of course was more into baseball and sports so the dad let him hit first. The dad said that he pitched to the sun well over 100 times and the son was just hitting every single one of them. The son wanted a break for a little bit and the little girl decided that she wanted to hit a few. So the dad helped her to place her hands on the bat properly and they did several practice swings together before the dad actually threw a ball. After the girl had taken her stance the father threw the first ball, the little girl swung and missed the ball. She didn’t give up though even though she missed the next 50 pitches. The father then announced that it was time for them to go home, the little girl protested saying how she just wanted to hit one more. The father agreed and told the girl to choke up more on the bat. The little girl did and once more took her stance over home plate. The father tossed the last ball in her direction and to both his and his son’s surprise the girl hit the ball. She actually hit it with so much force that the ball landed in center field. She was so overjoyed that she didn’t even run the bases but instead ran to her dad.

Both of these stories reminded me that if I continue to focus on all the bad decisions, and the bad things that happen in life, then I might miss my opportunity to hit one out of the park. Life is going to beat me down sometimes; there will be times when I’m so close to the ground that I might be laying down. Then there are times when life is going to try and lift me up, but if I become so scared because of things that happened earlier in my life that if I don’t stand up I’m going to miss my chance.

I try to live a very optimistic life style. For others my age it saddens me. Some of them live in such a negative lifestyle it’s almost pathetic. I believe that being depressed is completely optional. We can focus on the past and all the bad things that have happened to us, or we can choose to stand up and fight back. It’s a choice. I can choose to live in the world of “what-ifs” or I can choose to go out and embrace a new activity, new idea, or meet new friends. I’ll never know if I continue to live in my protective life. It’s time to branch out and embrace the new without focusing on the “what-ifs”.