The BIG Picture

We're all guilty of it - getting ticked off, crying, or being down in the dumps when our favorite team loses in the last second of the game, when we don't swim close to our best time or when we lose to Alabama in the SEC Championship Game (okay... maybe that's just the picture above). We wear lucky t-shirts, lucky earrings, won't wash our socks and do other unthinkable superstitous acts so we ensure our team will win... but is it all worth it?

Now I'm going to momentarily get up on my soap box for a while in this entry... I've felt inspired to write this after a long talk with a really great long lost friend who recently lost his father. We both discussed how it's the BIG things in life that you should focus on, and all the little, insignificant matters that just seem to disappear...

This year has been so deeply eye-opening for me when it comes to perspective. Life is all about changes, peaks and valleys - and it's all been revealed (sometimes in harsh fashion) the past year or so. I've had some of my best friends lose parents and siblings - and known people whose lives were changed in one single moment. With the ever-changing power that is life - it's so important to focus on how you treat people EVERY SINGLE TIME you interact with them. You must put all your efforts towards being compassionate, loving and steadfast at every single moment. Is it worth yelling at someone when they don't text message you back in .2 seconds? No. Is that dirty towel on the floor really hurting anybody? No. Just BREATHE...

That being said - does it really matter when your beloved Houston Texans don't get that 1st down? Does the Fiesta Bowl defeat really seem as important? Does your time in the 500 freestyle from when you were 18 years old really mean ANYTHING in the scheme of things? The answer is simple - NOT IN THE LEAST.

Sports are a fantastic outlet, an incredible provider of lifelong lessons, and a wonderful support team but they do not define you. When your life is over does the person presiding at your funeral read your stat sheet from your athletic career? Not in a million years. What defines you is the way in which you live your life. The people you touch with your compassion and those whom you reach by your giving spirit. You're remembered by the way you loved and cared - not the way you threw touchdowns or hit homeruns.

Remember this... and it may make the last second losses, the interceptions, the upsets, the blown calls, and all of the other insignificant details a little easier to stomach.