268 - Squeezing A Rock

There are some philosophies that I’ve adopted over my years that kind of shape my identity and guide my decision-making. They are my ‘north stars’ that I use to answer questions when I’m facing a decision. Some of them are

do all the good you can with all the time you have

‘beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself’

be bold

It’s a game, they are kids.

What goes around comes around

I sometimes have a hard time taking time for myself, and especially during soccer, my priorities shift and I don’t always eat a good lunch, or work out, or get to bed on time.

When a friend asked me why, I listed my above philosophies. And he pointed to a rock and told me to pick it up. I did. He said ‘squeeze it’, so i lightly squeezed it. He said ‘harder’, so i squeezed it harder, and i caught an edge of it that hurt a bit so i let it go. He asked why i let it go, and i told him ‘it hurt’.

He challenged me - if you hold on so tightly to those philosophies, just like that rock, you’re going to hurt yourself. The rock is sitting on my desk to remind me of that every day.

My challenge for you is how tightly are you holding on to your philosophies? Are you going to hurt yourself by gripping them so tight that you can’t learn new ones? Or put one down to pick another one up?