When Life Throws Us a Curveball
Last weekend was one for the books.
We headed to Wichita for the Kansas State Baseball and Track Championships, where my son Jack was competing in both. (So grateful his coaches worked together so he could do two sports during one season).
We arrived Thursday for baseball semifinals only to be greeted by rain, delays, more rain, and eventually cancellations. Ugh.....
Friday brought beautiful weather. Jack helped the Saints advance in baseball and qualified for the 200-meter finals in track.
Saturday started perfectly. The Saints won their third straight state baseball championship. Then the Kansas storms rolled in.
Jack’s race was scheduled for early evening, but delays kept piling up. Six o’clock became seven. Seven became eight. Anxiety grew. Frustration grew. The unknown seemed to stretch forever.
Finally, at 8:15 p.m., he ran.
And then they canceled the rest of the meet.
Thankfully, Jack got his race in and finished fifth in the state in the 200 meters, but he never got to stand on the medal podium because the ceremony was canceled.
There were several moments over those three days when Scott and I found ourselves frustrated, disappointed, and anxious.
But that’s exactly when emotional intelligence matters most.
One of the greatest misconceptions about emotional intelligence is that emotionally intelligent people don’t feel negative emotions.
They do.
They feel frustration.
They feel disappointment.
They feel anxiety.
They feel anger.
The difference is they understand that emotions are information - not instructions and definitively not permission to take out your frustrations on others.
Just because you’re frustrated doesn’t mean you should lash out.
Just because you’re anxious doesn’t mean you should panic.
Just because you’re disappointed doesn’t mean someone needs to be blamed.
Yelling at an event volunteer wasn’t going to make the rain stop any more than yelling at an airline employee makes a delayed flight leave faster.
When things don’t go as planned, emotional intelligence invites us to pause before we react.
Instead of focusing on what we couldn’t control, we focused on what we could.
...We spent extra time with family.
...Scott and I enjoyed an unexpected date night. (Highly recommend George's Bistro in Wichita. 10/10)
We hung out with other parents at the Social Tap.
At one point, we even found ourselves at Scott’s dad’s senior living community playing Pictionary with residents - a memory none of us saw coming.
Life rarely goes according to plan.
And sometimes the moments we never planned become the ones we remember most.
Three Emotional Intelligence Tips for When Things Don’t Go as Planned:
Name the emotion.
You can’t manage what you won’t acknowledge. Frustrated? Anxious? Disappointed? Name it.Separate facts from stories.
The fact was that the race was delayed. The story was all the things our minds were making up about what might happen next......Focus on what you can control.
You can’t control the weather, traffic, delays, or other people. You can control how you show up.
Congratulations to Jack on an incredible weekend: State Baseball Champion and 5th in the State in the 200 meters.
More importantly, another reminder that sometimes the biggest victories aren’t found on the field or track - they’re found in how we choose to respond when life throws us a curveball.
Be who you came to be - the BEST version of YOU.
