Caring while letting go.

It always feels good to care about something.

Care defines value and the things we care about hold value in our lives.

 

I used to hate caring about things because although I was thankful for the value that each thing brought to my life, I always felt lots of pressure not to lose it.

I started to hold onto care too tightly.

 

The other night, I learned a valuable lesson about care:

 

You can still care about something and not hold onto it so tightly.

 

I was playing basketball and was having a bad game.

I was frustrated, continuously missing shots, and I was not helping my team.

I started to shut down and stop caring.

That was not helpful.

 

After the game, I started thinking about why I was so wound up about a recreational game of basketball.

I am not a perfectionist. I know I won’t go out and make 100% of my shots.

However, I do expect to make some shots and provide value to my team.

 

That amount of value is subjective to your personal expectations, but I was not performing up to mine in that game.

 

As I have learned in other moments in my life, I become tense and start to get frustrated when I’m not performing up to my expectations.

I always take a step back and breathe. I want to relax and remind myself that a mistake doesn’t define you. You are defined by how you come back from it.

 

In that game, I wish I had taken a step back to breathe.

I was at a point where I was holding on too strongly to my care.

 

It is okay to care.

However, I needed to let go a bit.

 

Going forward, I want to continuously remind myself of a few things:

• Be thankful for the value that each place of care gives you. Whether it’s a person, activity, etc, that thing is important to you and makes you a better man. Be thankful.
• Don’t strangle your care. Just because it is important doesn’t mean I have to grip so tightly that I go too far. Let it flow and let it go.

 

I will always care about a lot of things.

I will always be thankful for a lot of things.

 

Those two words (care and thankful) should always go hand in hand.

 

I am thankful for the care I have and what cares for me.

I am thankful for the learning I continue to receive.

 

Let’s continue to care in the right ways.

 

NS