Gonna get personal in this one…but gonna start off a little more general:
I love this time of yr in sports, specifically in the hockey world, when we crown a new Stanley Cup champion. Why, even when it’s not my team (typically the case ;))? It’s bc if you look at the trajectory of MOST SC champs, it’s teams that got close, “failed” & then ultimately got over the top. Happened w Vegas this yr. A # of runs to the SC Final & WC Final, w heartbreaking losses…only to win it all this yr.
Happened w Colorado the yr before, & happened numerous times w Tampa before that. Get close, lose. In Tampa’s case – win the regular season by a LOT, & lose in the 1st Rnd.
Those examples are very public examples of – you thought something was for you – winning it all. It didn’t happen. Resulted in heart break…but it led to the prize in even a greater way, down the road.
That’s very linear: hockey to hockey. It doesn’t always happen that way in that what doesn’t work out, does work out in the SAME spot, just later.
Think to every job interview you didn’t land. Relationship that you got dumped on or just didn’t work out. Friendship that fizzled. Biz venture where you lost your investment. Those hurt in the moment.
And when they hurt, we spend SO much time & effort wondering “what if”…& mourning the “loss.”
That way of thinking stopped for me after I got sick btwn 2015-2017. Spent my whole career in sports. Worked my way up to a C-level spot. Was one step away from my dream job of running a team…then bc of health, the rug got pulled out & I was sidelined.
But what drew me in when I started to heal, was THIS space. NOT returning to sports. I’d never have imagined that…that I’d find something I’m even MORE passionate abt, than what I considered my dream job.
Same thing’s happened in relationships. 99% of my friends – married/kids/burbs. I had a fam member heatedly ask me the other day: “What are you waiting for? You want to have kids in your 70s?”
It’s these self-imposed & then fam & societal pressures that make us dwell on what we think we missed out on. But what if what we “missed” is getting us closer to what’s meant for us?
