In some ways, it was an unexpected gift; in others, it was only a matter of time. I fell in love with heavybag boxing. Friday nights were reserved for the gym. It was the perfect combination of grace and strength and not just because I thought pearl earrings and boxing gloves were a necessary combination (not sure why the fashion magazines haven’t picked up on this one). There is an art to fighting. It is a delicate, powerful balance – one of strength and agility, finesse and power. Muhammad Ali is famously quoted as saying “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. The hands can't hit what the eyes can't see.” There is a compendium of analogies, which can come from this seemingly simple quote and from my time in the proverbial ring. Today, I’d like to focus on the coaches’ corner.
“You’re a fighter, Coop. I’m asking you to fight.” He pled with tears streaming down his face. I had just thrown in the towel. I had announced I was leaving camp as it seemed as though it was no longer medically an option to work at camp. He was distraught; I was heartbroken. Years of hard work and sacrifice seemingly slipping down the drain. Hopes and aspirations plummeting like a balloon whose air has been let go. There were tears and pleas summarized by the frequent repetition, “it’s just not fair.” He gathered his breath and barely raised his eyes: “Please, fight,” he asked. “I’ll always be in your corner.”
When he asked me to fight, in part it was to convince me to reconsider giving up on a dream, which I was and still am passionate about. It wasn’t about figuring out how to work from NY for a job that was in NH (even though I did that). It was about hope. It was about fighting to be healthy. It was about struggling and striving to overcome difficult news from the doctors and to accept healthy even when it seemed like a plush notion that wasn’t going to be mine.
We pick who we let into our corner. We don’t decide who stays but we pick who we place there. We pick whom, in the intimate moments of our lives, we ask to coach and guide us to fight the good fight when we’d rather surrender. I’ve come to learn leaving camp wasn’t throwing in the towel. It was accepting the gift of now that God has in store for me in realities and ways I never would have imagined. Over the past few years I’ve changed coaches. I thought I knew whom I wanted in my corner. Turns out I had chosen people who couldn’t endure the fight I was being asked to fight. That’s okay. By some seasons and reasons we come to recognize the mistakes we’ve made and by the grace of God, we grow past them and through them. As a wiser me looks at a younger me, I smile. “You didn’t know what you didn’t know”. A coach is one of the most important roles we will pick. Let us choose wisely.
Who’s in your corner? Make sure it’s someone whose got your back.
Verso l’alto,
KGRC
Baby the sun will rise
Baby the sun will rise
However long the night
No man is an island, we can be found
No man is an island, let your guard down
Please don't try to fight me, I am for you
We're not meant to live this life alone
No man is an island, let your guard down
Please don't try to fight me, I am for you
We're not meant to live this life alone
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