Step on it

I remember my first year of farm team baseball as being a huge learning experience. Obviously, there was the learning of how to play baseball. I was six years old and this was my first experience with organized sports. I predated tee ball and coach pitch and machine pitch so, at six years old, I had nine, ten, eleven year olds throwing to/at me.

Now, some of these guys were pretty good pitchers, some not so much. In practice, I had several near misses and became a little afraid of being beaned by one of the less than accurate hurlers (okay, hurler is relative). My fear of being beaned by an errant toss really affected my hitting, you can't hit with your eyes closed.

Eventually, though, in a game, I took a fastball (once again, relativity) in the left back pocket. I was six. It stung. It hurt a little. I may have even teared up. However, because I got hit by the pitch, I got a free pass to first base. I was ON first base, which hadn't happened much to this point.

Today's word is a quote from Brendan Francis, which says, "Many of our fears are tissue paper thin, and a single courageous step would carry us clear through them."

I really feared being hit by that ball until I was actually struck and realize that it did hurt a little but not as much as I had thought. But, more importantly, there was a reward for being plunked! The fact that there was a benefit from being beaned, allowed me to overcome my fears of being beaned. So much so, that I eventually started leaning into those inside pitches to get a free pass.

We are all going to have fears of some kind. Most of those fears, however, are thin and shouldn't have near the hold that we allow them. The next time fear arises, step on it, squash it, smash it, go through it. That'll take you much further than first base!

Be Blessed,
Mickey T