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Saturday, June 11, 2016

The Ballgame of Life

Today we're going to the ballgame! 

Have you ever heard the phrase "when life throws a curveball hit it outta the park". This is the peak of positivity right here! A curveball is one of the hardest pitches to hit for a batter because it comes in at an angle, with great speed and doesn't follow the straight path of other throws. It's not what they expected or hoped for. Then to knock it out of the park is even harder. This is the ultimate dream for most young players and for professionals alike the crowds go wild. So basically life threw you a challenging situation and you came through it amazingly to over achieve.

Now using this metaphor lets see what happens when the batter has a mental illness and a clouded view of the game. For me this is how life's curveballs can feel sometimes...

When life throws a curveball and your so paralysed with fear it hits you in the face and you cry...

When life throws a curveball swing aggressively, managing to hit the ball but then run away before you see where it lands...

When life throws a curveball, drop your bat on the ground and walk away, knowing the crowd were never rooting for you anyway...

When life throws a curveball, refuse to play and tell everyone you hate the game anyway...

When life throws a curveball, somehow manage to hit it and feel so overwhelmed you don't want to talk about it...

When life throws a curveball, surprisingly knock it out of the park and tell yourself it was a lucky hit and you don't deserve the crowd to cheer for you...

When life throws a curveball, miss the shot and blame it on the pitcher...

All very negative right? But this is a distorted view that depression and anxiety can create. The saying itself can really help look at how mental illness can affect your view to life. 

My advice; always try to hit the ball but if you miss or it goes straight into the hands of a fielder or bounces a few yards away on the floor know that you took a shot and nobody really expected you'd hit it. Not because you're the world's worst batter but because it was near impossible. The crowd understand it was a tough shot too and aren't judging you, especially if you're not a pro player.

If you want to blame the pitcher, ok that might get your anger out but remember you had the bat. You had a chance to meet their challenge so you need to make sure you didn't just let them win.

If you hit it outta the park and don't know how, don't focus on thinking you did nothing. You swam in the deep end of life's challenges and came through victorious. Sometimes it just happens but don't give yourself any less credit. You still hit the ball.

So when life throws you a curveball, take a shot and know you had a swing at it!

Much love,
Becky xx

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Excellent!

Tracy said...

I feel the different ways a person with mental illness feels when a curveball comes. I try to just "batter up", but it isn't always easy to keep that mind set. Glad you can!

Not just depressed said...

don't get me wrong there's days where I'd be the one sat down in the batter's box with my back to the pitcher but I tend to do a lot better in the deep end. its when a lot of small things build up that I can give in