What Striking Out in Slow Pitch Softball Taught Me

There are few events more humbling in life than striking out in slow pitch softball. Yet, for the first time in 13 years I managed to do just that last night. As strange as it sounds I was able to tease out several lessons from something so seemingly trivial, though I suspect it'll be quite some time before I live it down. (especially with my little brother) In any event, I took away some important realizations.

When I stepped to the plate I saw that there were two runners on base. We were down a few runs and there were two outs. I wanted so desperately to drive them in and slowly inch our way back toward victory that I swung as hard as I possibly could. "I knew you were going to strike out,"my brother later told me. You were trying to hit a 5-run homer. 

Lesson: You can't try and do too much at once. No matter the situation, keep your poise, do what you can, and don't be afraid to rely on your team.

Later on, a ball was hit in my direction in left field. The runner decided to try and stretch his hit into a double. I rifled the ball from the outfield failing to hit the shortstop for the tag. I was still thinking about my previous at-bat which had a direct influence on how I played for the remainder of the game.

Lesson: Let things go and start anew. If you don't, you'll allow your past to adversely affect the next thing you're trying to accomplish in the moment.

Believe it or not, towards the end of the game I was still ruminating about my poor performance in the game. What can I say? I hate losing. Still, I quickly realized all of the other players were in good spirits and had already forgotten about the game. It's softball after all. 

Lesson: People are so concerned about themselves they don't have time to worry about you. We're all selfish beings in our own way, wired to look out for ourselves. If there's something you're hung up on and worried others are stuck on something you've done (especially something as trivial as a poor performance in a softball rec league) you're kidding yourself. Be liberated by the fact others have moved on. You should too.

If anything, I also learned there's potential for a life lesson or two to be drawn from just about any experience. You just have to look for it.