Life is an absolutely mind-blowing thing. It will take you from making that diving catch center field where you feel on top of the world for a hot second and then suddenly, you’re in the box with fastballs coming at you from every which way. Can you dodge them all? Which do you swing at first? Can you even handle it?
Harsh truth is that life is what you make it. You choose what to believe in, what perspective to have and what you do with everything that happens to you along the way. Believing that everything happens for a reason is something that reassures you and helps you keep the faith when things get rocky. Choosing to believe that these fastballs are a test of your character changes the entire game.
So, keep your cool when this happens. Pause the moment, take it all in. No, we can’t actually pause life, though that would be great, take a step back from everything to see the bigger picture. Adjust your batting gloves, consult your third base coach, and then get back in the box. Take each pitch one by one and take deep breaths, you’ll come out of this ball game alive. So school is stressing you and planning that senior year schedule is driving you up a wall; sit down with your laptop, a friend maybe to help and put yourself to work. Putting something off because it stresses you so much will only cause you more and more stress and anxiety.
Align yourself with a good team. Make sure those you surround yourself with are people that better you and challenge you. You know those people, the ones cheering you on from the bench no matter how behind in the count you are. It’s crazy cliche to say it though incredibly true to say that when things go haywire in life, you realize the true friends. When all of those fast balls are coming at you at 95 miles-per-hour, those around you will stand beside you to take the hits with you. Or they’ll stand in front of you to lessen the blow…The people who are around you and the environment you surround yourself with play massive parts in how you overcome these overwhelming life situations. They’ll either be there to hold your hand through it all or try their damnedest to soften the blow.
These fastballs are a test to show who you are and help you discover more about yourself. What will break you? How strong are you? There’s never any shame in reaching out for help or calling a ‘timeout’ in life; they’re both there for a reason. While stepping away from the issue won’t solve it, taking a break to collect your thoughts and settle down is a great idea. But the pitch is still going to come, and you will be ready for it. So call a timeout when you need it, reach out to someone for help when things become too much all too fast.
Just like baseball, life is a game filled with failure. There are more strikeouts than home runs, more failure than success, so why do we still play it? Why do we continue to step in the box against a pitcher that we know is going to throw one by us so fast that won’t even see it? We do it because of how good it feels when we finally make contact and hit it out of the park. We do it for the curtain call, for the high-fives from the team that has been pulling for us the entire time, for the satisfaction of knowing that winning the battle is possible. Please, I’m begging you, don’t let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.