It’s a hot August day in 1979 down the Jersey shore. A chubby 10-year old girl is on one of those classic rubber blue and yellow rafts that would be considered “retro” today. Her mother is holding a Virginia Slim in the long, delicate fingers of one hand and pulling the raft with the other. She plops the raft down at the water’s edge.
The girl, who swims on her town’s swim team, is surpringly afraid of the ocean. She doesn’t like being knocked off her feet and having that “out of control’ feeling. She is envious of her brother and father who are beyond the sand bar, out in the distance with the crowd, diving in and out of the larger waves, riding them to shore, turning around and going for more.
“Here Mare,” her mother says in a calming, reassuring voice. “Start HERE my dear. Let the smaller waves come and take you out. Let’s build up your courage.” The girl does as instructed and lets the small waves breaking on the shore take her a little forward…and a little back…forward and back. She likes the way that feels but catches herself glancing over horizon to see the others…way out THERE. Soon enough, she grows a little tired of playing small, and hears a little voice that whispers: you CAN. So she drags the raft out a little deeper. And deeper still, a little more sure, a little more brave, a little more belief. Small waves conquered and won and a growing confidence and a want to take on for MORE.
Our life is NO different friends. Take on small goals. Achieve them. Build belief. Take on larger ones. Win small. Win BIG. Win each day. Win at LIFE.
Now, you may be thinking: I’m not brave. I don’t have what it takes. You don’t know my life or where I’ve been. I can’t even get through on freakin’ day! Where do I even begin?
I feel you. I hear you. I see you. I WAS you.
But imagine this: I am extending you that liferaft. I am the one holding the rope and dragging you to the waters edge (without the cigarette, mind you.) I am not forcing you out into the deep, but instead, gingerly setting you at the water’s edge. I am saying: “start HERE my dear.” I let you get a FEEL of the smaller waves…the smaller wins…and I let you ride those for a bit. Momentuum builds until you start to hear a small voice that whispers: YES I CAN.
We begin, my dear, with riding the smaller waves EACH day. By setting and accomplishing tiny wins and victories daily. Day after day after day. Actions not just thoughts. Secondly, and more importantly, acknowledging those wins and giving ourselves CREDIT for them. When we do this, we build up B.O.Y: Bank Of You. The more deposits we make in the B.O.Y, the more our credit builds and the more we begin to invest in it, to trust it. When our actions become congruent with our thoughts, and we give ourselves warranted “you GO girl! you GOT this!,” the more we begin to convince yourself:
I can WIN today. I can WIN tomorrow.
I AM worth it.
I DON’T need to settle.
I CAN follow my dreams.
I am MADE for MORE.
When we start…
>Convincing ourselves of our worth, that we deserve to be happy, to start over, to write a new chapter, to tell oursleves a different story, to stop settling for less, to create a NEW US, we start to look for more “winning windows” to step through — become open to opportunities to challenge ourselves, step out of comfort zones and into who we were really meant to be.
>Checking off our daily “winning wowzas” — stacking up ways that we win each and every day — momentuum builds to become the dominant force in our own life.
>Understanding what it takes to be in the “winner’s circle” of our life — becoming aware of what we need to STOP doing and START doing to not just be a “participater” but to be on the podium of our day.
Win the Day. Win at Life.