Life Is a Contact Sport

You are going to be hit. You are going to be battered. You are going to be bruised. You are going to be knocked down. You are going to pick yourself up only to get knocked down again and again and again. You will stumble and fall, much to the delight of others that are not your fans. You will be subjected to trash talk by other players and the chirping of spectators that haven’t taken the field or court in your shoes. You will have good days and you will have bad days. You will be tired. You will be exhausted. You will lose and you will win. Sometimes you may even have to settle for a tie.

Keep playing the game. Keep putting out the effort. Keep getting up off the ground. Keep battling. Play your game and silence the trash-talkers and the cranks in the stands. Judge your game by the outcome and by an honest evaluation of your efforts. Regardless of what the scoreboard says, you can really only judge your performance by your preparation and your effort. Winning is important, but so is playing the game the right way.

When you walk or are carried from the field, court, or playing surface, you want to be proud of how you played regardless of the outcome. That is up to you.