Good morning and Happy Weekend! I hope you had an incredible week! For the most part, I did, and it was really busy. 😂 It wasn’t all great though. Keep reading, you will see why. 😉
I read a quote last week by Michael Jordan. In case you aren’t familiar with Michael Jordan, he is considered one of the greatest basketball players of all time. The quote I read was “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. 25 times I have been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I have failed over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” I have to be honest with you. I was kinda puzzled by this. I mean, what was he saying exactly? Did he mean that he practiced so much basketball, he had encountered every situation one could come across in basketball? Did he just miss all of those shots in practice, and that when he came to the real game he was successful? When I think of Michael Jordan, I certainly don’t view him as someone who has failed EVER.
I did a little research on Michael Jordan. Did you know that he tried out for his high school varsity team when he was a sophomore, but didn’t make it? Michael Jordan said every time he looked at his school’s varsity roster that year, he was embarrassed and kinda mad about it, (because his name wasn’t on the varsity list). Do you know what he did about it? Michael’s high school P.E. teacher said that every morning when he got to school early (because he liked to get to school real early), he always was greeted by the sound of the basketball. Every morning when the teacher walked in the gym, there was Michael practicing. Michael did not quit basketball.
Geralt. (2016). IPad. [digital image]. Retrieved from https://pixabay.com/en/basketball-net-score-rim-hoop-2099656/
So, here is what didn’t go so great this week, I had a chair audition that didn’t go too well. In fact, it went about as bad as it could. I messed up everything. I was pretty mad about it, because I practiced a lot for it, but I just kind of got myself all nervous for the audition, which obviously was a mistake (and a whole other blog topic). When I found out my result, I was absolutely humiliated! I took last chair. I immediately started trying to figure out how to get out of playing for the Ensemble. I mean, I love music, but I decided I really only love music from 1st or 2nd chair. 😂 Last chair stinks!
Here I was, mad and embarrassed, and like anyone would do, I started planning my escape from this situation. I started trying to figure out how to get out of playing the saxophone from last chair. My first idea was I could come down with an illness, like some type of lung disorder that meant I couldn’t play in last chair. Or maybe I just found out I was deathly allergic to last chair. If the illness thing wasn’t believable (because it wasn’t 😂), I started thinking of what excuse I could come up with to not be in horrible spot. I could say, I had a new part time job that meant I was not going to be available for rehearsals anymore, so the next to last chair guy could be last chair, and I could just quit. However, you will not believe what hit me in the midst of my plans!
In the middle of my scheming to get out of last chair, I heard Michael Jordan’s quote in my head. “I fail over and over again. And that is why I succeed “. All of the sudden his quote made sense to me! He wasn’t saying he succeeded because he practiced sooooooo much that he knew every basketball scenario known to man, and he never messed up in games. He was saying he succeeded because instead of quitting when he failed, he got back up. He let the failure go, and tried again. Yes, last chair seemed pretty awful when I am used to taking 1st or 2nd chair, but I decided it would be pretty awful to be counted on to score the game winning basket and miss.
While it seems like it would be much easier to quit, and not have to go take my place at last chair, I am going stick it out. I am going to keep focused on the fact, that even Michael Jordan had failures, not just in practice, but in the big games. And then, I am going to succeed just like he did.
Plus, now I get to hear the French horns, which are actually pretty good. 🙂 You can’t hear them in 1st or 2nd chair.
What this blog boils down to is, yes it is humiliating when you fail (you can insert a mental picture of me waving at you, from last chair 😂. Go ahead and pull out your binoculars because you will need them to find me ) but don’t quit! I know, I just wrote about sometimes you win and sometimes you win a totally different way. I guess, sometimes you learn too. (I can’t think of a win for last chair, yet, but if I think of one, I will be sure to let you know 😉). In the meantime, sometimes you have to pick yourself up, and let go of your failure to succeed.
“I fail over and over again. And that is why I succeed”. Michael Jordan and Karstan 😊
Have a great week and go play Acalympics
Acalympics.com 