Just had an epiphany that grew from a random memory….. about little league baseball and how I’m only now realizing how it shaped my life.
When a batter is at bat, the coaches read the game and they signal him/her as to how they would like them to try to hit the ball. There are signs for bunting, take a pitch (don’t swing), ground ball, pop up. etc. but I never got any of those signs. I batted in 4th position. Commonly known as “clean up”.
The hope is that the previous 3 batters all got on base and the clean up hitter brings them all home. I hit clean up because I was a giant with freakish hand/eye coordination and hand speed and I knocked the everlasting shit out of the ball. 🤷🏾♂️. So the only sign I ever got was the “Swing Away”. In fact, it got to the point where Coach didn’t even give me the actual sign….. he just nodded as I walked to the plate.
And everyone knew it was coming. The fielders backed up as far as they could. Didn’t matter. There’s a fence they can’t go past. I’m swinging for that fence. So I swung away. I struck out at times. I grounded out at other times. Foul balls. Intentional walks. None of that changed the equation though. I still got “the nod”……They still backed up….And often enough…. I knocked the everlasting shit out of that ball. 🤣
Those were such formative moments in my life. It instilled in me the belief that I could. That I was the one who SHOULD. That people believed in me. And they EXPECTED me to be not only good….. but GREAT. That I believed and expected the same of myself. It taught me that I was to be feared and respected at all times. (Whether or not I’m holding a bat… BACK TF UP OFF ME! 😂🤣😂) It gave me a short memory for failure. (that’s important. Analyze your failures…..but get your ass in that batters box again KNOWING where you went wrong and that you are about to crush it this time!) it taught me that even in the structure of a team, my individually output is EVERYTHING! ESPECIALLY when my assignment is to swing for the fences.
I respect and understand the need for caution and restraint and I actually welcome it…..I built a whole career in Security so I definitely GET IT….but maaaaan even in that, I swing for the freakin FENCES! Because what 18 year old night security guard starts dreaming of his own security company….. and BUILDS it by 23 with over 20 employees by the time he’s 27? That belief that I can and WILL is literally all I know. Yes. I strike out. I ground out. I pop up. I foul. And with age comes the wisdom of what those failures cost.….and they do cost…..(jobs….careers….wives…sleep….financial stability and predictability at 42! 🤣.) You also have less time to fix them. I’ve learned to swing more selectively. More precisely. Economy of effort and motion has become an art. But I swing…..
HARD.
Thank you to each and every one of you who has believed in me and supported me and expected me to be great and do great things.
Now come watch me knock the everlasting shit out of this ball…..
Stay tuned.
Theintrovertedeye.com
