Where in life are you going through the motions?
My 8-year old son is obsessed right now with rugby, mainly for the social aspect and because he gets to look tough with headgear and a mouthguard.
He also loves learning the skills – passing, tackling, being tackled, forming a scrum and so on.
However when it comes to Match-Day, where they play against others schools, he is nowhere to be seen. He typically hovers behind his team-mates, treating the ball like a hot potato and seemingly biding his time until the game is over.
He has yet to really connect with the object of the game, which is to get the ball across the opposition’s line and stop them from getting it across yours.
He is probably weighing up the risk of a punishing tackle with the thrill of scoring.
My son’s scenario got me thinking about the distinction between ‘going through the motions’ of playing a game and really playing it; whether that be at work, as wives, husbands and parents, or taking care of our physical and emotional wellbeing.
Are we really playing the game in these areas? Or are we pretending and going through the motions?
In my experience there exists an absolute chasm between lives operating with these two mindsets; not just on the personal effectiveness dimension but in terms of quality of life.
Life ‘comes to life’ when you really put yourself into it. Everything becomes more exciting.
Of course the risk associated with really ‘doing life’ is that it can make certain things more painful. It often takes courage to care.
However, as Winston Churchill famously said: “Success is the ability to move from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm”.
So consider allowing yourself to get a little more rumbled by life. Get in there.
It’s worth it.
Have a great week everybody.
