Last night, I played ultimate frisbee in the rain.
1 hour and 45 minutes of rain.
Pouring rain.
Wind too.
Did I mention the rain?
I am a bit of a rain wimp, and as I stood shivering on the sidelines between shifts, I vacillated between two thoughts:
Thought #1: I am winning. I am amazing. I am in the rain and I am not dying.
Thought #2: Why am I doing this? Why am I shivering in this cold when I have a warm, dry home? What kind of macabre self-torture am I putting myself through?
At the one hour mark, I said to my teammates, "I don't know if I can finish this game." I said the same thing ten minutes later, and ten minutes after that, and then maybe every 30 seconds until the buzzer went. We lost by a wide margin, but I got a ride home and was grateful for the warm shower waiting for me there.
---
You all know I'm prone to reflection, and I've been thinking a lot this past week about loved ones who've been sailing rough seas for quite some time. I imagine their thoughts sometimes go along similar lines - at times feeling that in enduring, they are winning; then wondering why they are pushing through instead of jumping ship, feeling certain they'll call it quits around the next corner.
I have great respect for the times we push ourselves outside of our comfort zones, face adversity (rain) square in the eyes and say, "I will not be sidelined!" And I have great compassion for the sight of my friends shivering in the rain, clothes plastered to their skin as the opponents are racking up the points.
I cannot stop the metaphorical rain, and sometimes I don't even have an umbrella to offer. Sometimes the other team hits hard and your team fumbles, and even you make a mistake or two.
What I'm trying to say is this: life is not like a box of chocolates; it's like a game of ultimate frisbee in the rain. I'm not in charge of the weather, but if you're on my team, I'll show up and shiver and try to find an umbrella or a towel or a ride home at the end of the night.
Because that's what a team does.
1 hour and 45 minutes of rain.
Pouring rain.
Wind too.
Did I mention the rain?
I am a bit of a rain wimp, and as I stood shivering on the sidelines between shifts, I vacillated between two thoughts:
Thought #1: I am winning. I am amazing. I am in the rain and I am not dying.
Thought #2: Why am I doing this? Why am I shivering in this cold when I have a warm, dry home? What kind of macabre self-torture am I putting myself through?
At the one hour mark, I said to my teammates, "I don't know if I can finish this game." I said the same thing ten minutes later, and ten minutes after that, and then maybe every 30 seconds until the buzzer went. We lost by a wide margin, but I got a ride home and was grateful for the warm shower waiting for me there.
---
You all know I'm prone to reflection, and I've been thinking a lot this past week about loved ones who've been sailing rough seas for quite some time. I imagine their thoughts sometimes go along similar lines - at times feeling that in enduring, they are winning; then wondering why they are pushing through instead of jumping ship, feeling certain they'll call it quits around the next corner.
I have great respect for the times we push ourselves outside of our comfort zones, face adversity (rain) square in the eyes and say, "I will not be sidelined!" And I have great compassion for the sight of my friends shivering in the rain, clothes plastered to their skin as the opponents are racking up the points.
I cannot stop the metaphorical rain, and sometimes I don't even have an umbrella to offer. Sometimes the other team hits hard and your team fumbles, and even you make a mistake or two.
What I'm trying to say is this: life is not like a box of chocolates; it's like a game of ultimate frisbee in the rain. I'm not in charge of the weather, but if you're on my team, I'll show up and shiver and try to find an umbrella or a towel or a ride home at the end of the night.
Because that's what a team does.
Comments
Post a Comment