GRIT

I love the things I learn from my kid.  She keeps me humble.  With all the busyness around me, I made a conscience decision to take this weekend off to watch my daughter play in the local softball league tournament.  I do not understand much about the sport, except that I am learning more about it, with each game, from observing and asking questions.  My daughter’s team placed second overall in the standings during the season, but lost every game in the tournament, so far.  After today, there were some tough lessons to be learned.  Winning versus losing… Outcome based versus process based… Intrinsic reward versus extrinsic reward.  These are not easy lessons for an 11-year old girl to acquire.  Fear not… She is learning.  Placing last in the round standings today may have bruised her ego, a bit.  There was a little bit of anger, a little bit of frustration, and a little bit of disappointment.  This is normal.  Anyone would feel kind of down with 3 straight losses.  Your sense of hope and optimism are significantly depleted; and your willingness to ‘play your best’ quickly diminishes.  Knowing that the two other teams in her league were playing in the semi-finals, my daughter opted to stay late at the field to watch her peers play.  However, she got asked to play for a peewee team as a substitute.  She could have easily declined and sulked in her misery.  Instead, she eagerly accepted the offer and played the best game I’ve ever seen her play.  She rose to the occasion by playing with team members who are almost 3 years older than her.  She faced the fast pitch, made it to base 3 out of 4 times, and played 1st and 3rd base wholeheartedly.  She was part of the team.  This is what I call GRIT.  When things are down… when things get ugly… she was able to pick herself up and get back into the game.  Now that feels good.