Saturday, July 15, 2017

Perseverance

Wimbledon! I'm not a die hard tennis fan, but I love watching the big tournaments, Australian, US, and French Opens, and of course Wimbledon, my favorite. Of course I know the game originated on grass courts, but all I've ever been exposed to are the standard hard surface all over the place in public parks. I have a few favorites over the years that I like to watch and some new favorites. The love to watch, can't stand the personality of John McEnroe. The tenacity of Martina Navratilova and Steffi Graff. The good guy, buddy, then mentor Andre Agassi. And of course, today, I will be cheering on Venus Williams. What a phenomenal young woman1 Young is a relative term, and in major tennis, she is supposed to be past her prime. Yet at age 37, there she is on the grass court, competing with a woman who may have been in preschool when Ms. Williams won her first major. 

Perseverance. The woman has it. It's obvious she plays for the love of the game, as not many would keep playing when after winning multiple tournaments, you start getting knocked out in earlier rounds. Still, here she is, as if she never had a "slump" ever in her career. Slump, what a word. It's such a negative word to describe a natural human quality of not being able to always be at the top of our game, whatever that game is. It could be career, marriage, family relationships, personal health, but to get through the trials, a person needs to reach down and find that inner perseverance.

With Venus, though, her tenure on the courts has also been partnered with her multiple business projects; I doubt there ever was a slump, perhaps just a different focus.Maybe that's true for all of us, and instead of looking at our down times in one part of our lives, we understand that our energy perhaps was elsewhere. At that point, it is essential to determine if the focus is where you really want it to be. DH and I will be married 30 years in October. No doubt we have had frequent  slumps, points in time when I wasn't sure we should even stay married. I bet if I dissected the worst moments, it wasn't a huge crisis drawing our relationship apart, but probably a misaligned focus. In the career front, my slumps may have coincided with activities and events going on in my family, and quite frankly, my family should be the priority. Perseverance, along with kindness, is a character trait that defines how I want to reflect my life.

8 comments:

  1. Well, perseverance didn't help Venus this time. She lost to the 23 year old spanish Mogorosa.

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    1. After first competitive set, really went down fast. But she was there! Perseverance may not always being about number one, but being on the court-literally and figuratively.

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  2. My old favourite was Bjorn Borg. I was rooting for Venus but there is NO shame in being 2nd! Especially at age 37!

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    1. Now that is going back a few years! The Grand Slam events would be fun to attend.

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  3. I missed the tournaments entirely, but I had a boatload of projects on my plate. Tomorrow might be a little better, yep more projects.

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    1. Tennis is usually long matches, so I can have on while doing other things, and I pause to watch a really good game or two.

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  4. I agree with your sentiments but for me it has to be Roger Federer. The "perfect" tennis player with the "perfect" family but in reality an absolutely "perfect", classy gent. Oh, and if you want a laugh, check out Kim Clijsters on youtube "giving a man a skirt". One of the spectators was shouting out advice on "how to play" so she had him on court to put his money where his mouth is. Brilliant. Anna

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    1. I can't argue with you on his talent. I do remember the Clijster episode-pretty good stuff.

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