I always wanted to write a book.
“What stopped ya?”
Didn’t know how.
Then God placed a man in my life, pointed him out to me, and had prepared me to be able to take advantage of the opportunity as it presented itself.
After the cordial introductions were made a relationship was struck.
Placing myself in the position of a student I waited with bated breath, for the world shattering, secret knowledge, of “How to Write a Book.”
The top notch advise, the secret knowledge given, in a deadpan delivery was…
“Just write.”
That’s it?
“Yep, just start writing. The book will work itself out of you.”
“All you need to do is to start writing.”
That was 2016. I had started my notebook/journals in 2009.
I had been doing it all along. But I didn’t recognize it as such.
I didn’t recognize myself as a writer because I thought they did other “work” besides just writing. (The forest for the trees, the forest for the trees)
The phrase, “Everybody knows that,” was brought up today in a different discussion… and along with writers writing, I feel there are a lot of things that “everybody knows” that in truth… they do not.
For example: in order to be successful a person needs to know “who they are” so they can direct their energy into an endeavor that matches their, personality… their skills… their passions… in order to be able to achieve their life goal.
One way a person can find that out about themselves is through participating on a sports team.
I present to you an idea.
An idea, when shared with my youngest son (21) he said, “Yeah, everybody knows that.”
I didn’t. I just thought I had a cool idea, so I wrote it down. That’s what writers do.
My son grew up playing on sports teams. He actually started his career as a four year old bat boy, for our cities Traveling Baseball Teams.
To him, my “new” idea, was old hat.
A discussion ensued.
He said, “a guy needs to know his role.”
I leaned into the personality aspect… because how is one suppose to know his role if he doesn’t know himself?
What if the team needs a second basemen, but the new guy wants to play shortstop… but you already have an All-Conference shortstop.
The new guy can either help the team and play second or he can whine and complain his way onto the pine bench.
Say he “chooses” to play second, has a good attitude, and benefits the team.
What does he get, can he find his individuality among a team?
I believe he can.
How?
As he plays and practices he fills a role, his role, as he develops… as a player and teammate.
How do you know when you’ve arrived?
I believe it’s when a “nickname” sticks.
Baseball is great for that. We had… “Stumpy”… “Big Ten”… “Ace”… “Sultans of Swing”… “Hoss”… “The Milkman”… and on and on.
Each one of those players, and their individual personalities, grew out of their participation on an organized sport team. Wearing uniforms, showing up for the bus on time, taking batting practice together… and getting it done on the diamond.
Being an “individual” while also being “a part” of a larger team.
They all came to know and understand who they were… and used that knowledge later in life. “Yeah, everybody knows that.”
I am coming to truly understand the enormity of the task of getting to know a person… even people we may have grown up with… including your youngest son…
Maybe things just come to me slowly, maybe… no one ever told me… that’s why I ask so many questions for clarification.
In my adult life I just considered myself the… utility player.
And as a writer… because that is what I consider myself to be… that attitude of a utility player is serving me well… because as a utility player I get to see the field from all angles, from all innings, from the dugout bench, from the dugout rail… and sometimes from the best seat in the house…
the seed bucket.
If you haven’t had the opportunity to be on an organized team which helps you find your individuality, look around, the nearest thing for adults is your work team, it may not be as fun as playing baseball, but if you want to grow individually take a look at where you fit on your current team… do an assessment of your current personal picture of yourself… if you are happy… KUDOS!!
If you are not, and you want to develop a new picture of yourself, know that you can create a new life through creating a new picture for yourself using your current roster spot as a starting point…
if you currently feel like you are batting eighth… start by identifying yourself as a “hitter” and start doing the work that can get you to the seven spot at the top of “the bottom of the order”…
then repeat that thought of being a hitter, and do the work that will get you into “the meat of the order” at 6, 5, and 4…
then repeat that thought and work again aiming now for “the top of the order”… (in real life it’s more like Lineman, Manager, Director, Owner)
Maybe they’ll start calling you… Hitter McHitterson, or something cooler like Boomstick, The Big Hurt, The Kid, or even… Joltin’ Joe… who knows??
You won’t… until you discover and work on your self image… possibly by participating among a uniformed team.
Leave a Reply