My son must have been about 10 years old at the time and he had a love for throwing a baseball (which was really a softball, which are actually not that soft, but I digress). Being the ‘good mom‘ I always tried to be, I said, “I would love to be your catcher” At first, it was great! He was throwing, I was catching (with a mitt I used maybe only this one time). The sun was out, it was a gorgeous day. The next thing I remember I was on the ground; just hit in the head and seeing stars. In that very moment, I knew I had a choice. While I was in pain, I also didn’t want him to feel badly so I took a few deep breaths as I lay there on the blacktop driveway. He ran over to say, “Mommy are you ok?” And I said, “Buddy, these things happen sometimes; I totally missed it and that’s why it hit me in the head.” I could have yelled or blamed him, but truth be told, I didn’t catch it. Instead I asked him to get me some ice.
Whether or not you have literally been hit in the head, it’s likely you’ve had your own kind of curve ball thrown your way. How did you handle it? Would you have done the same thing again if you could do it again?
Life has a way of throwing curve balls our way at times. So often it seems we are thrown off by these surprise twists and turns. Yet, who ever said that life is supposed to be one straight line from beginning to end? Yes, we may all wish for, hope for, want, and/or even “expect‘ life to be one clear line from birth to death. But when some unanticipated event arrives in our lives, unless it’s something positive, we often find ourselves struggling; feeling some version of self pity. ‘Why did this have to happen to me?’ The way in which we respond to the struggle is completely within our power. For example, how would you feel instead if you asked yourself, ‘What is this here to teach me?’ Sometimes it is a stretch to get to the latter question but well worth the psychological journey.
If we are conscious enough in the moment we have more control; control over our emotions and the energy we give a certain situation. If instead we simply react to something without any thought involved, we have given our power away. By no means am I suggesting this is an easy thing to do but when we give ourselves permission to feel what we feel and the chance to pause before responding, the ball is in our court… even if it has a curve on it.