Sweet Spot

A friend of mine sent this story to me the other day.  Coyotes goalie gets call-up hour before game while giving twins bath.

So, this guy’s a banker, living in Phoenix. He played club hockey at ASU ten years ago. Apparently, the NHL requires teams to have a backup goalie in their market, just in case they’re needed in an emergency.  Well, there was an emergency. So he drives to the stadium, gets suited up, and sits on the bench.  If anything  happens to the starting goalie, this guy will play in his first competitive game in 10 years. In the NHL!

That’s living.  The sweet spot. That feeling of tension.  That feeling of, “Wow, what an opportunity,” and a feeling of, “Wow, what am I doing here.” When you’re living on the edge of your skills, when success is not guaranteed, but possible.  That’s being alive.

I see two challenges in getting to the sweet spot.

1. Fear.  It’s easy to let that feeling of, “What am I doing here,” overwhelm us. We don’t think we belong.  We convince ourselves we don’t have what it takes.  We don’t think we deserve the opportunity in front of us, so we let the fear take over and prevent us from fully taking advantage of that opportunity.
2. Focus.  We don’t always get the call like our goalie friend.  In order to move forward and have a more fulfilling life, we need to create those opportunities to live in that tension.  That takes work.  It takes dedication.  It takes a willingness to say YES to the things that will move us forward and NO to the things that are holding us back. That is not easy.  Life places many demands on us.  Sorting through the decisions we make each day to determine what will move us forward can be daunting.  But it’s crucial, if we want to find that sweet spot.

Where is the sweet spot for you?  What are you saying YES to?  What are you saying NO to? How can you move forward?