Wednesday, July 9, 2014

World Cup Wonder

Surviving Your Darkest Hour

It was a rough day for the hometown World Cup fans. Germany could do nothing but score. Brazil could do nothing to stop them. 

The game was lost well before halftime. The Brazilian players had to put on a strong face and play out the rest of a hopeless match in front of millions of fans world wide and their own shocked and sobbing countrymen.


Bad Things Happen

No matter how prepared we are, no matter how skilled or experienced we are, it's still possible to have a bad day. A disastrous day. A calamitous day. A performance that will haunt us for years.

No one is immune to bad fortune. Anyone can have a meltdown when a perfect storm of negative events rains down with unexpected fury. The storm will come for each of us sooner or later. The breakdown will happen. It's not a question of whether, but when.

When the worst happens, it will hurt. We'll feel anguish. Humiliation. Agitation. Despair. Physical and emotional discomfort. 

We'll experience profound self-doubt and disillusionment in that bitter moment, a moment that we shall be destined to play over and over in our minds for months and years to come.


Replay

But, guess what! You'll get over it. If you live through the experience, you can pick yourself up and start again from where you left off.

You'll play another match. You'll dance another song. You'll compete in another contest. You'll deliver another set of results. In the aftermath of unimaginable humiliation, you'll get up, get yourself together and do what you love to do. And you'll do it again and again and again.

To live a life where you do what you love to do. Would that be worth a few bad experiences along the way? A few really bad, publicly humiliating experiences, versus a lifetime of happiness? That's an easy decision to make.

Failure feels horrible, but it doesn't kill you. It doesn't render you weak or unable to compete. It doesn't stop you from taking reasonable chances.

But the fear of failure can immobilize you and kill your dreams.


Dancing Beyond Fear

Never let the fear of failure or humiliation hold you back. Refuse to let fear prevent you from taking the chances that you need to take in order to reach your goals and enjoy the life that you want to live.

Imagine the worst possible scenario of embarrassment, humiliation, and loss of stature. Now imagine something ten times worse. You could survive that. You really could. It won't be pleasant, but you would make it. You would emerge bruised but better for it.


The Fulfilled Life

Now imagine years and years on end of living your dreams, adventure after pleasurable adventure, in a life that fulfills you completely. Would you trade all of that just to avoid a few occasional moments of powerful humiliation?

Take a chance. Take lots of chances. Live your life. When life pushes back in an unpleasant way, roll with the punches, grieve for what you've lost, put yourself back together, and get back to doing what you really, really love to do.

There's more life to live. There are more dreams to follow, more objectives to accomplish, and more people with whom you can share your highs and lows. 


¡Buena suerte amigos, y muchas gracias!
Daniel

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