Protect Your Joy

Today, I wanted to take a moment to address something a little different but a lot more important.

This year, and in the years that follow:

Remember to protect your joy.

Maybe you’re an athlete struggling with a coach that steals your joy.

Maybe you’re a coach in a similar program. (Been there.)

Maybe you’re in a relationship or friendship that you know, deep down, is no longer making you happy.

Hear me when I say this:

There is no job in the world, no program in the world, and no person in the world that is more valuable than your happiness.

Try and remind yourself that it is in our nature to be joyful.

When we live daily with joy, we can better instill it in those around us and it becomes easier to recognize the things that try to steal it from you.

We are naturally drawn to those who prioritize this.

The Scorpion and the Monk

My good friend Rob once shared a parable with me, and I can’t think of anything that better speaks to this idea.

Maybe it will strike you as it struck me.

Two monks were washing their bowls in the river when they noticed a scorpion drowning.

One monk immediately scooped it up and set it upon the bank. In the process of saving the scorpion, he was stung and he winced in pain.

When he went back to washing his bowl, he saw that the scorpion had fallen into the river again. The monk saved the scorpion once more and was again stung, only this time the sting was so intense it caused him to yell out in pain.

Shocked, his fellow monk asked him,

“Friend, why do you continue to save the scorpion when you know it is in his nature to sting?”

He replied,

“My dear friend, I could never ask the scorpion to change his nature. Why should I ever change mine?”

When Life Stings

I’m here to tell you:

There will be stings. Many of them. Sometimes it will feel like too many to handle.

There will be times when you punt basketballs.
When you feel like giving up.
When you’re on a downhill slope of bad luck that feels endless.

And there will definitely be times when you feel like no one around you believes in you.

And these hardships are important.

Do your due diligence to fight through them. Keep moving.

But when you find yourself in a place that no longer brings you joy, my hope is that you will not let these things change your nature and that you’ll take action to protect it.

This Year

Practice gratitude.
Dare to smile first.
Protect your joy.
Remember your why.
Share it often.

Shooters Shoot.
— BriAnna