Give This Life Your Best Shot – Dream Big, Take Risks, Enjoy the Ride

Give This Life Your Best Shot – Dream Big, Take Risks, Enjoy the Ride by James M Hussey

You’ve got one swing at home plate. Bases are loaded, 2 strikes, bottom of the 9th, clock’s ticking. You’ve got one shot to win this thing, or foul it up and lose big. Don’t be “Casey at Bat,” man–give it your best shot and smash that thing to Pluto!

It doesn’t matter if you don’t play baseball–I don’t! But the point remains: you have the bat, you have the reason to swing for the fence, and the rest is all moot. Take your best shot and make it count. This isn’t baseball I’m talking about, this is life!

Every moment is like that sweaty-palmed, World Series moment, and it’s up to you. Now, it is a little different, in that you probably don’t have a hundred million eyeballs watching your every move. It is, however, the exact same thing when it comes to how you handle your every moment in your day. For instance:

How do you handle your children, if you have any? Your spouse? Your family and friends? Your co-workers? How do you relate to other people–are they “people” or simply “nuisances?”

Are they commodities, stepping-stones, tools in your hand or pawns on your chessboard? Do your friends and co-workers think of you as the irreplaceable cog in the machine, or as the monkey wrench gumming up the works? Look, you probably don’t want to keep reading if you suffer from GAD (General Anxiety Disorder) or some other high-stress condition.

Otherwise, think about this for a second: who else is holding the bat in your hands? Who else controls your tongue, your attitude, your performance? Here’s a gut-check for you: how long have you spent crafting up excuses for poor behavior, rather than correcting your course?

Let this be the year, let now be the moment, that you take the bull by his horns–or wherever else you can grab onto him–and wrestle that stubborn brute to the ground and take charge of your life. Were you abused as a child? Were you neglected and hurt? Did you get stomped on at work? Did your spouse or significant other leave you?

Seriously: I’m sorry.

Now that that’s done and over with: get yourself some steel in your spine and move on. Pity party’s done, hit the lights and get back to work on something that can actually improve your situation. Nobody can do it for you.

You’ve got the bat in your hands, leave the inconsiderate bullies behind for a second and take control of where you’re headed. Sit down and make a list of the things you want to change about yourself–not the world or powers-that-be, but about you–and then make a plan to change just one thing at a time.

Chunk it out into baby steps, and work towards the first one. You do not have to be the same old you. People change. You don’t have to make this a swing-and-a-miss, not this time. You’ve got to swing for the fence, every time. Batter up!

About the Author

James M. Hussey does what he loves – works the family business by day and blogs at night, when he’s not freelance writing on Elance as “JamestheJust.” His blogs include Dog Pet Stores, where you can find answers to dog behavior questions and other resources.