The things we can't fix

Those of you who know me know that I can be a bit of a control freak. I am a little bit competitive, and I like to have or generally know the answers. Though I have learned how, I am not so very good at asking for help, though I will freely give it. I don't like to be wrong and for that I try to share my wisdom. I don't like other people I love to be wrong either. 

So, when someone that I know or love is hurting it hurts me. It hurts me because I am human and I have empathy and can feel for them. It hurts me because I would never wish pain on someone I care about. But to be honest, I think it also pains me because I have to admit to my humanness and vulnerability and admit that I don't have all of the answers and I cannot make things better.

What is even worse is when more than one person is hurt or going through a tough time at the same time. I feel like I want so much to fix things that I get distracted from what I am supposed to do, which is to listen, love and support my loved one that needs me.  And then, there are the times when two people are hurting and they are hurting each other, and I love them both.  Not only am I helpless, but I am torn. I am torn because these two people are tearing each other up, and I cannot stop that either.

While sport teaches me that I am human and that I must except limitations, life makes me want to exceed all limitations and to try to be all things to all people. Maybe this is why I love multi sport so much?  It lets me be more than one thing and it lets me feel like I am accomplishing something that is near impossible in real life. It makes me good at more than one thing at a time. 

I used to be a boss and I would never hire someone who didn't list either a first job at McDonalds or active team sport involvement on his/her resume. This was a hiring tactic because it let me know that these people could work as a team, that they could problem solve, they could multi-task, and they could handle the stress of not getting it right. Every now and then we have to accept making a mistake, we have to learn to accept a loss.

I think it is time that I learned from sport myself. I think it is time that I took some of my own advice and apply the rules of sport to real life.  I have to accept the loss. I have to learn to lose gracefully. More importantly, I have to learn that there are more players on the field at any given time than just me. We are all capable of pulling together as a team and winning or losing. But for certain, I am not ever going to be able to win or lose all by myself, no matter how hard I try.

There are some things I am just not going to be able to fix. So, I am going to have to hold my chin up and be there for the rest of my team mates.  I will be here to cheer, to listen and to hold them up when they need me and together we will emerge stronger and better than ever before. Of this, I am sure.