Who's going to show up today?

My daughter’s soccer team played in a tournament this weekend.  They played two games on Saturday and then a third Sunday morning. Depending on points scored and all that, they would or wouldn’t have played in the final championship game Sunday afternoon.

As soon as the first game started, the other team outplayed them.  They had a great strategy and passed to one another and our girls just sort of did what they could but lost by 5.  It wasn’t a great start to the tournament.  Our team won the 2nd and the 3rd and ended up playing the 4th and final game.  It was against the same team that defeated them. This time it was different - even though our girls played the same team just a day earlier, it was as though a different team showed up.  They looked so good and they remembered their own strategies and plays.  They lost but could hold their heads up when they left that field. They are champions.

Today made me think about the fact that every day I can decide which one of me is going to show up - not in a schizophrenic way - but what attitude am I going to display.  Am I going to be defeated by this recession and just give up?  Nope - to me that is epic failure.  Every day I am going to decide to be that team that I watched today.  The one who knew they were facing tremendous odds against a team that initially stomped them by a lot.  But they showed up to face them again and they weren’t deterred by the odds.  They weren’t deterred by the fact that they just lost by five.  They did what they were supposed to do -the next right thing.  They got out there, they listened to their coach, they played by the rules and they got 2nd place in a tournament where lots of teams didn’t get anything.  You know what? Second place is good enough.

I’m a big believer in attitude being everything - if you don’t believe me, just read some of my earlier posts. But watching this team today reinforced that believing in yourself and maintaining a positive attitude can make all the difference in the world.  I’m going to remember that this week as I go on interviews and network.  I’m going to remember that if I don’t believe in myself nobody else will either.  I’m going to keep the faith and remember that ultimately the final score doesn’t matter.  What matters is the journey that gets me there.  Peace!