Have you ever thought about how life can be
compared to a baseball game? To some people a baseball game is not that easy to
understand, just like life. To others, it is perhaps the most exciting game on
Earth, just like life.
Baseball is a bat and ball game, 9 players on
each team, batting and fielding. Although it is a team sport, whether or not
the team is going to run the field and switch bases depends pretty much on who
is batting. The game does not follow a game clock, but the game lasts nine
innings. So many curveballs are thrown at you during your nine innings, which
can be defined as:
• 1st
inning – from zero to two. You are born start getting used to using this
fantastic machine that was given to you. Learn how to walk, talk, eat, potty,
take afternoon naps and so much more.
• 2nd
inning- from two to five. You try out behaviors and ask why. But mainly you
play and still take afternoon naps although much shorter.
• 3rd
inning- from 6 to 10. Go to school. You are put into an institution or system
which is at first full of fun and games, but then it starts getting serious and
tries to mold you into all the other students in the classroom.
• 4rd
inning- from 10 to 12. No-man land. Who are you? You are neither a child nor a
teenager. Confusing inning.
• 5th
inning- from 13 to 18. I-know-everything land. I will live forever. I can do
whatever I want to. The time of dealing with something called hormones. Time to
define what you are going to do for the rest of your life.
• 6th
inning- from 19-24. University time. Sex, drugs and rock n´roll. Find a job.
Work, work and work. Party, party, and party.
• 7th
inning- from 25- 35. Work and work and work. Time to settle down? Travel? Have
kids? Buy real estate?
• 8th
inning- from 35- 49. Pretty much have want you want and pretty much are happy
with what you have. You should be at least.
9th inning -50 and over. You have reached the
top of the hill and are starting to come down. Now is the time to keep on
playing until the game is over.
In Baseball the players run the bases in a
counter-clockwise direction. They start off at home plate, run to first, second
and third bases. Their final objective is to return to home plate to score a
point for their team.
Life is pretty much like this. You have a goal
to reach and if you hit the ball right you can move from base to base until you
reach your goal. However, you go in a clockwise direction most of the times and
if you do go counter-clockwise people will think you are strange or mad.
Life is the pitcher, just like the pitcher in
the game, life throws balls at you. There are four pitches in baseball that can
be compared to the balls that life throws at you; fastball, changeup (off-speed
pitch), curveball and slider.
The fastball is the most common pitch in the
game. In life that would be the everyday decisions that you need to make when
it comes to work, family and health. These are easy to deal with and at most
they can make you a little stressed but nothing that you cannot shake off and
move on to the next base. Let´s call it daily issues in the daily routine.
The change-up ball looks like a fastball but
arrives much slower to the plate. Those are the problems that start growing and
hit you in the face. Not that you didn´t have a clue that they were appearing,
but what you put off for the next day.
A slider is a ball that is a cutter. It just
appears to throw you off track, to upset you, for you to swing at it without
thinking and strike out. These could be unwanted debts; an illness; a
relationship issue; and so on.
Now, a curveball is the one to watch out for.
There is actually the expression to throw a curveball, which means to introduce
a significant deviation to a preceding concept. In other words, you are in your
comfort zone and life says: “Oh no you don´t. You need to change. You need to
grow. You need to evolve. Let´s see how you can handle this new heath issue,
divorce, death of a loved one, loss of money, unemployment, loneliness,
heartbreak …” so many curveballs are thrown at you when you are up for bat and
ready to move on to another base. Sometimes you want to give up and throw the
bat very far away. But there are times that you spit, hits you shoes with the bat
and step up to the plate.
When it comes to dealing with people strikes
are good. One, two, three strikes and the person is out of your life, mind you,
it does help.
So try to sit back and enjoy the game because
when the referee says: “Game over!”, the game is over.
Written: September 20, 2016
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