Who’s winning?

In years past, I recall someone telling me that winning isn’t everything.  Over the decades I have had to agree with this person – and the 20 or so that have repeated it to me since.  Winning isn’t everything.  There I said it.

What happens to a person when there are repeated losses and not a win?  What happens to a team with repeated losses and not a win?  What happens to a soul with repeated losses and not a win?  These are questions that I’ve been pondering for the last few weeks.

The answer actually comes from an unlikely figure,…..my daughter.

My daughter has been on a Basketball team and then a Softball team back to back for the last 8 months.  They had one win in Basketball and so far no wins in Baseball.  One would think she would have some “canned” answer regarding loosing and winning; something like the question I’ve been asking myself lately, “winning isn’t everything”, or even “loosing stinks.”

But she does not.

She seems to enjoy doing what she is doing – playing ball on a team.  When we ask her about the score at the end of the game – she knows it – yet it doesn’t seem to affect her.  At least not as much as it seems to affect most of the parents on the team; myself included.  At my daughters age, the parents take it much harder than most of the girls do.

We have all heard the statement, “It’s the Journey not the Destination.”  This is tough to center on sometimes for all of us.  Life has a tendency to push us into making decisions and focusing on the end product, not how we get there.

After watching my daughter over these last months I can see that repeated losses don’t do too much to the soul, if that soul is in it for the adventure, the exploration, or the voyage not for the win/loss ratio.

My thoughts though, are settling on when in life do we make that transition from loving the journey – oblivious to the idea that we need to have a destination in mind – to letting the destination take over the moments of the journey.

My question for you is; when in life did you lose sight of the journey and start focusing on the destination?

…running through my mind…

Something had to give!

One week ago today, I was able to squeeze in a great run after getting some bad news in regards to a piece of equipment that I’m responsible for, to the company that employs me.  That run calmed me down and I was then able to get my mind wrapped around what should be important in my life; not what I’ve been showing everyone around me lately that which I think is important in my life.

Three short hours later I was enjoying my son’s season ending party for his soccer team, and ended up hurting my knee badly while playing soccer with his team.

I hate to think how I would have handled that injury if I had not run just a few short hours earlier.

Before my run that day, all the stress that I was putting on myself, was being taken out on people around me; mainly my kids.  That run, put me in a different place.  A place that caused me to sit with my kids in the living room after the run and talk to them about the way I had been acting.  Our boy – without provocation – said that he forgave me, followed by our youngest girl.

Him forgiving me so quickly after the way I was acting earlier in the day, is something that will be with me forever, and probably something that needs another 4-5 blog posts to delve into.  I hope in life, he continues to see that a well placed, “It’s OK” accomplishes much more in his life and in the life of others, than years and years of pent up anger, aggression and accusations.

That night, while I was laying in bed talking with my wife, I had a sense of calmness over me.  Granted, I was a little worried about how messed up my knee was, but with everything else that was happening in life, I felt calm.  Even though I could be facing a long recovery and possible surgery, I felt calm.

Was it the run?  Was it my son’s automatic forgiveness?  Was it the way my family was treating me after the injury?  Was it the way my family treated me after I had that talk with the kids in the living room?  I truly don’t know the exact reason for my calmness.  I can only believe, at this time, that it was in direct response to me having something new to fight.  My Knee!

For some time I have been saying, “something has to give!”  Ever since that knee injury, I have been concentrating on taking care of my knee and spending time with my family.

I suppose, the thing that had to “give” was my knee!

…running through my mind…

What auditor class REALLY taught me

One month ago today, I was starting my first day in an auditor class, realizing I had no idea how to pass the class.  The class was focusing on something that was pretty foreign to me, and something that I was not all that passionate about.  For that week I learned new acronyms, learned manufacturing language, and attempted to sound like I knew what I was talking about during mock audits, I felt completely lost and wondered why I had set myself up for such a failure that was inevitable.  As the week progressed, I became more comfortable with my classmates and the class content.  The stress level at the beginning of the week was something I was not used to, yet towards the end there was still stress, but I was dealing with it much differently.

Now fast-forward to today.  Today is the eve of my current supervisor’s last day.  He is moving on to manage a larger flight department in a completely different country and operating in a thoroughly divergent type of environment than he has been in the last decade; and possibly an environment than he has ever operated in.  I think about the challenges that are awaiting him and the huge opportunity that awaits.  I can relate to it a bit, by thinking about what I was experiencing just a month ago.  I was able to call home and talk to my family a little each day; I was able to run a little each day; I was able to eat and sleep; however that is where a familiar life stopped.  Everything else was foreign and I imagine for my supervisor it will be this way for more than a week.  My thoughts and prayers are with him and his family during this time.

With his departure our department will  have new challenges and opportunities; I’m pretty excited to see where we go.  Change is scary at times, but no matter what the direction we travel from here, it feels right to have this expatriation from our department at this time.  The next few weeks or months, in some areas, might feel a little like those first few days at my auditor class.  However, I know that with that feeling there will also be a light that we will begin to see.  Eventually we will get our sea legs and operate without our leader of 7 years and because he built such a cohesive team, we might even do a few things better without his direction. 

That auditor class taught me a lot more than auditing.  It taught me to keep working and learning; keep using the resources that are surrounding me; keep my mind open to other resources that could help; keep sleeping, eating, running, and spending time with my family, and in the end it will all work out.

…running through my mind…