Here I am with more pickleball talk. Yet, of course, a snippet is never actually about the topic I begin with - always only a metaphor.
What has pickleball brought me, given me, taught me? Pickleball has given me much more weekly and quality time with special girlfriends and guyfriends, stomachs-full of laughter, a full house 5x a week, JOY (yes - joy, pickleball makes me feel happier), and lots of calorie-burning. What else? The sport has reminded me about the importance of moving on quicker from annoyances, irks and mistakes.
In the FAST game of pickleball, bad shots happen - to everyone: beginners, intermediates, advanced, and pros. Yet we cannot merely stand at the net or behind the serving line and dwell on the blunders we just made. We are much too busy facing the next round of volleys, focused on returning the next shot well. If we stand there and dwell on the mistakes - what happens? It will affect our next shot.
When we err, we must shake it off - that fast - and keep playing. We may take a few seconds to huff & puff and blow off a little steam ... or jump up and down in a tiny tantrum. We may give the court wall a little smack with our paddle or call ourselves stupid (I do not recommend that one). Yet that is all the time we have, folks, thank you very much. The next ball is coming!!! We have a game on which to concentrate - and we want to do our very best.
There is no time in pickleball (or any other sport) to develop a "can't-do-this" attitude - or any bad attitude at all. We cannot berate ourselves for missing the ball or hitting it out of bounds or into the net. No-no-no. We want to effectively hit the next shot. We want to win the game.
Play life like pickleball. Each shot (i.e., situation, encounter, opportunity, conversation, project, another day/month/year) is a NEW OPPORTUNITY to get it right, do our best, stand at the net of life and return what it serves us. We have to focus on shot after shot, hit after hit, game after game. When one is done, we let it go, move on, accept it's over, learn from it.
Some shots are going to be pretty. Some are going to go awry. Some shots will be brilliant. Some will be stupid mistakes. And many shots we take in life are going to help us WIN; others will allow us to learn as we are defeated.
Yet each shot ... yes, each shot ... is part of the game of life. We move on quickly from one - and prepare ourselves for the next.
