Super Bowl XLIX.
Here we are 8 years later and the mere thought of it still leaves a sour taste in the mouths of many.
If you’re not a Seahawks fan let me give you a quick recap…
(And 12’s, my apologies! I hope I’m not inducing any PTSD.)
It’s February 1, 2015.
The Seattle Seahawks are facing off against the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 49 to determine who will be crowned the WORLD CHAMPIONS of American Football.
After 89 minutes of heart, sweat, strategy, and gladiator-esque combat, the game winds down to the final minute.
There are 26 seconds left on the clock, it’s a 1-score game, the Seahawks are set up for a second down snap on the New England 1-yard line… they are quite literally within a single arms length of victory.
I’ll be completely honest, I am a fair-weather Seahawks fan at best, but to LOSE in a situation that seemed so COMPLETELY IN OUR FAVOR was mind-boggling.
Infuriating.
Disheartening.
Deserving of major ridicule from every fan in the history of Seahawks Football.
Why did they make that play call?
How could they have NOT given the ball to the guy who SHOULD have had the ball?
…It’s easy to roast people in the limelight.
In fact, the clairvoyance from the stands is rather remarkable.
But by only ever being a fan or a critic, we miss out on the GIFT of failure and the OPPORTUNITY that exists when we voyage into the unknown.
This week’s Weekly Focus is far from a push to let Darrell Bevell and company off the hook…
Instead, it is a nudge for each one of us to STEP INSIDE THE ARENA.
We might be able to preserve our ego behind closed doors, but it’s the arena that gives us the SPACE to expand, to become better, and to experience the alchemy that takes place when we CHOOSE to be brave.
YOUR arena could be setting a goal and actually vocalizing it. (Yes, accountability is scary!)
YOUR arena could be asking for what you need. (“No” is an answer, not the end of the world!)
YOUR arena could be deciding to go right when everyone else is going left. (There IS risk in being risk-averse!)
A large piece of MY arena resides right here within Move Together Yoga.
It is ABSOLUTELY something that I love and gladly pour into, but it also doesn’t come with an operator’s manual, it doesn’t “guarantee” fiscal returns, it has both wins and losses that feel VERY personal, and it forces me to do what scares me.
…Believe it or not, being in front of the camera and actively marketing what I do STILL gives me the stomach butterflies!
But no matter the outcome, the arena always proves to be worth it!
And so I’ll close with one of my favorites:
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
-Theodore Roosevelt
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