(Something new - a video version of this script - Enjoy!)
(Some browses don't recognize
the video link above.
Use this one The Tryout)
My
wife, Carolyn, teaches piano to a bunch of students. Two of them recently have screwed up their
courage to try out for one of the jazz bands in their respective schools.
This
is no easy moment at which to arrive, especially for an eighth grader and a
sophomore in high school.
Their
fears were large and foreboding. Their
secret conversations ran something like this:
What
if I’m rejected?
What
if I blow it in the audition, or forget my place in the music?
Am
I good enough?
Our
lives as adults are like tryouts aren’t they?
We try out for a new job, we invite someone over for dinner to begin a
new friendship, we launch an idea at work and hope it is accepted, we call an
estranged friend or relative attempting once more to restore a lost connection.
Life
is a tryout.
And
the risk of rejection is ever present.
Your
hopes might get dashed to the ground.
You
might go to some new adventure and then find out that is not where you want to
be after all.
You
may see your future vividly and in color and then never realize that dream.
You
might get rejected! Horror of horrors.
The
odds are almost always against us. There
are always those around us who are better qualified, more talented, better
looking, speak more clearly, dress more sharply – they are just better … or so
we think.
The
odds are speaking – and if we listen, we don’t like what they are saying.
Even
if the odds are against us, that is a lousy reason to not try.
Seth
Godin says “Will I get in” is not nearly as good a question as “Is it worth
trying?”
Oh,
my friend. Try, try and try again. By all means, with all that is within you,
try.
Remember
the two students I mentioned at the beginning?
The girl got her seat in Jazz Band A.
The boy got his spot in Jazz Band B.
He will learn this year in Jazz Band B, and all year long he will keep
his sights on the A band next year.
Life
IS worth the effort in reaching for the yet unattained goals, because of what
it teaches us about US. We learn by
doing, by experiencing.
Try!
Repeat!
Repeat!
Repeat!
Words of Hope
Encouragement Inspiration
One Word at a Time
No comments:
Post a Comment