Pep Talk: "No Double Trouble"

Confession time. I suck when it comes to losing sunglasses. By which I mean I’m really good at losing them.

Pursuing the whereabouts of the latest pair took me into a nearby watering hole, World of Beer. Love the place. Anyway, it’s opening Sunday of the NFL season, so there’s a zillion games on a zillion televisions. No sunglasses. Bartender offers empathy.

“Might as well stay, watch some games and have a beer.” It took about a nanosecond to agree.

So while sitting there watching the Bengals lead the Bears in Chicago, Titans topping the Steelers in Pittsburgh, Chiefs dominating the Jags in Jacksonville and all the other games, my mind wandered to what coaches say so often after a devastating defeat.

“We can’t let this beat us twice.”

Yep. It’s what coaches talk about all the time. After losing a game in disappointing circumstances - the Denver Broncos loss to Baltimore in last year’s AFC playoffs - it’s imperative for the jolted team to not allow the hangover to deeply affect future performance. Despite recognition of the challenge, it happens often, despite best efforts to avoid it.

I think what sparked the “We can’t let this beat us twice” thought process was a couple of personal issues banging around in my noggin’ on a warm mid-September Centennial State Sunday.

Life throws curveballs. The journey’s a roller coaster for sure, ain’t it? I find it fascinating to be in public places, look around at others and wonder, “What’s their story? What’s going on in their life?” We all have challenges. They come in a variety of shapes, sizes and volume but are usually in one of three areas: physical, emotional or financial.

For me, the two above-referenced brain cramps centered on the emotional side of dealing with a tragic family illness and a teenage child’s growing maturation.

The stuff life brings our way, at the most inopportune times. Quite often, whatever ails us can spread its emotional toll to other important areas of our world - home, work and elsewhere.

We must try like heck to not let that happen. That gets us back to the “We can’t let this beat us twice.”

As much as possible, avoid the domino effect. You know what I’m talking about. We’ve all stacked up dominos and then pushed just one. What happens next rarely fails to marvel all experiencing the avalanche of fallen tiles.

Could it be true about life as well? Whether the challenge before us is physical, emotional or financial, if we allow it to spill into other meaningful and important areas and relationships, could that only make it worse?

Collateral Damage?

When military strategists meet and ponder attacking someone, the topic of collateral damage, we would hope, is always discussed. For instance, the discussion around bombing Syria as punishment for the deplorable act of using chemical weapons to kill innocent civilians. In all accounts I’ve read, one of the challenges is that the bad guys America wants to eradicate have hunkered down in Syrian areas of folks just minding their business and trying to survive.

The collateral damage to destroy the bad guys would be enormous considering their location.

The one beer was complete. No game had changed dramatically, except in Buffalo where the Patriots had rallied to win. I walked into the bright Colorado sunshine, squinting mightily without those darn sunglasses, to head for home with a powerful reminder about collateral damage.

Stuff’s gonna happen in life. It will rattle us to the core. Obviously, we have to deal with it. In doing so, we also need to shelter surrounding areas from the storm.

Don’t let it beat you twice. Limit the collateral damage. Avoid the domino effect. Call it what you like. Very simple to say and affirm. Very challenging to embrace when the challenges hit and threaten our world.

Look around and realize you’re not alone. Don’t be afraid to be vulnerable and ask for encouragement. We’re here to give each other hope and confidence.

To prevail against what ails, we can’t let it beat us twice. No double trouble.

Nobody needs to heed that advice more than the simple dude from Missouri offering it.

Good luck!