Letting Things Go

The tennis ball flew up in the air and then gradually fell towards me. If I hit the ball just right, it would be an easy put away at the net. I knew I could do it. I just knew it!

“I got it!” I yelled to my tennis partner.

Before I knew it, I had hit the ball. In the net. “Ugh!” I shrieked with disgust.

While I hit some pretty amazing shots during my match this past weekend (if I don’t say so myself), I can’t seem to concentrate on the fact that I played well. Instead, I’m too focused on the few shots that I missed that might have cost us the match and not able to let it go.

But isn’t that what many people tend to do at times? Instead of focusing on the good things in life, we dwell on the things that might have cost us something. Like, maybe you got behind an incredibly slow person on the way to work, and that person caused you to be in a bad mood the rest of the day because you were late. Or maybe you sat next to an annoying person in the movie theater and weren’t able to enjoy the film. Maybe you even bought the latest gadget and then found it cheaper somewhere else.

I think my inability to cease dwelling on such things that, in the end, aren’t that important, contributes to my worrying. Yes, I lost a tennis match, and there were some shots that I should have made. So what? It was a beautiful day, and I got some exercise while playing well. I should feel good about that and move on. There’s more to life than a tennis match anyway, right?

Before a match a couple of weeks ago, my tennis partner suggested that we just play our game and not worry about whether we won or lost. Throughout the match, this strategy seemed to be working. I was playing well and having fun and when we lost the match, I walked away without any worries or regrets.

I think I need to start thinking of life as a tennis match. In tennis, if you think too much about how you’re going to hit the ball and where you are going to place it, you tend to mess up. When you stop over thinking and just play your game, though, you win more points.

So maybe if I just stop analyzing everything (Why didn’t I do that? Why did I say that? What does that mean?) and just let things go, my worrying will begin to decrease. Like tennis, this will take some practice...

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