Sports metaphors are widely used, and tonight I realized why. It takes a strong person to compete in such a public way with a huge risk of failure and embarrassment.
The first jump of his performance, U.S. figure skater Jeremy Abbott fell. He got up, kept skating, then fell again. I can’t imagine the discouragement he felt. On the Olympic stage, in from of the world, and his friends and family, and it seemed as though all he could do was fall.
But he kept going. Each time he fell, he got up and skated. As the performance continued, his confidence grew, and his skating became beautiful.
I imagine that, after the first two falls, he knew he wasn’t getting a medal. And so he got up and performed with all of his heart. The pressure was off, and so he skated like he did it just for himself to prove that he could do it.
I’ll avoid waxing eloquent, but I would like to say that I applaud his determination. There have been times when I’ve fallen, been knocked down, and maybe even dragged through the mud. But after each time I got up and kept skating.
The memorable lesson from Abbott’s performance is the improvement he made after those initial mistakes. He could have let those early falls shake his confidence. Instead, he used them to strengthen his resolve, and so he finished beautifully. He didn’t win gold, but that’s okay. He ended better than he had started and did something amazing in the process.
I hope I’ll remember that as I embark on new adventures. Some things may not work out the way I want and others may fail spectacularly, but I’ll learn from those mistakes, realize that I won’t win gold, but it’s okay. I will do something beautiful with my work so long as I
