The day after the Superbowl must be a very interesting day for the winners. All year they spend time gearing up to get to the “big day”. Never certain that they might get there and certainly not sure they would win. And then the moment arrives and they realize that they just won the biggest game of their life A remarkable moment, party’s erupt, emotions are soaring, and expectations are exceeded – time for a smile, time to take it all in, reveling in the fact that you are the Superbowl champs. And then I remember a quote from Rafael Nadal, one of the best tennis players of all time, he stated that the only thing I know for sure is that I will not be number one for my whole life, as a matter of fact I will most likely just be number one for a short period of time. Which leads me to think about how fleeting that moment is when you are crowned victorious. For a football player maybe the feeling lasts for six months till the next season starts and all team records are started at 0 wins – 0 losses. While they might own a Superbowl ring they are given no credit for prior year wins nor guarantees that it would happen again. Yes, in a short time the winner went from the best to just another team.
So, what to make of this – you can spend most of your life getting to the ‘big” win and then in a matter of moments you can be back at square zero fighting to get back to the same spot that just occupied. And since no one is a champion forever there seems to be no choice but to learn how to enjoy the passage there. We call it the journey – seems critical to enjoy the journey as it is the time where “all of life” truly happens. Not in the final game of the season, not with trophies in hand and certainly not in the reality of life. Every person, team, organization should work towards a goal - it provides purpose and motivation – just do not use the goal as the only measure of success or you might find yourself disappointed for no good reason. Celebrate along the way with your friends, family and co-workers and if you do get blessed and win that trophy or get that ring then smile a big smile and have some fun with it – you deserve it.
And so it is that my hopes that the Flower challenge will get easier are dashed. While I did make it to the end again it was quite difficult. I suppose as it took me a month of hard work to get to the end the first time I am thinking I need another month to get strong enough to feel good at the end. It is my next goal. The pushup thing started good and got me to 173 on 4:17. This one is going to take months to get to 257. But as I have time as my friend I will stay the course.
Loving life, that’s all
Joe