Disqualified.
On Life & Balance
The stories, everyday moments, and lessons I carry outside of work.
It was a Disqualification. No doubt about it. The official had a DQ raised before she even hit the water.
My oldest daughter was swimming the 50 backstroke at her last swim meet. Well, was supposed to be swimming it.
We watched them call for her race and the kids all get in the water to start and her lane remain empty.
Not a good start.
We couldn’t see her. They called for swimmers to take their marks. Still no sign. They buzzed. Nada.
The swimmers were already a quarter of the way down the lane when we saw her. Running to the lane. She jumps, twists, does a backward dive into the water. Yes, a backward dive. I’ve never seen anything like it. Unfortunately we weren’t recording because we thought she was missing and so we stopped the camera roll.
Running on pure adrenaline she quickly caught up, passing some of the other swimmers. She made good time. Probably her best yet. But it didn’t count.
You can’t really do a running-leap-twist-back-dive into a pool for a race. Especially a backstroke where your toes aren’t supposed to be curled over the top lip of the pool on start.
The official met her as she climbed out. He kindly explained to her that as awesome an entry as that was and how impressive her speed was for catching up, he ultimately had to give her the dreaded DQ because it was an illegal entry.
This time the goggles were hiding her tears. She came and talked to us. We told her it was done and past, she had more races. All of which she set a personal best in.
By evening we were all already laughing about it.
So many times our failures are like this. They feel big in the moment. But my daughter showed me something that day about her character. Even if she’d already failed, she was finishing what she committed to. She said she thought maybe there was a chance it would be ok so she didn’t hesitate, she just did it.
I need more of that in me. More confidence even in the shadow of fear. More action instead of hesitation.
She also learned the importance of being ready when it was her time. Something I think we all miss occasionally. Fortune favors the ready!
So if you’re committing to something, commit to it. Make the entry cool. You’ll at least be able to laugh about it later. And who knows, maybe no one will notice and it will all work out.
Do the thing. & do it well!
Trev