A couple of months ago I went bowling with some folks from my apartment complex. When I go bowling, a game is a complete failure if I don't crack triple digits. The first game I'm bowling okay and I need something like 8 pins in the final frame to get 100. So what do I do, I step up and come up 1 short to get a 99!! I am utterly crushed and looking for a reason to live.
But the real story is what happens next. I don't mess around when it comes to bowling. I don't try anything crazy because I don't want to throw a 50 up there. But I am just so jaded and dispirited by my 99 that all rules are off. Everyone knows that all the pros bowl with spin so I decide I'm just going to do it because I don't care anymore. Let me preface this by saying at this point I've probably tried spinning a ball 3 times in my life so I have no idea what I'm doing. But the stars aligned, I went out and bowled a 165, the highest score of my life! I bowled 4 strikes in one game -- this has never happened before!
So the obvious metaphor here is that sometimes you just have to go for something instead of playing it safe. This has certainly been true of my life where most of my childhood, my hearts playing career, and various other points in my life I've been too afraid to go for it. I see it all the time in tennis where I start playing not to lose instead of playing to win -- and then of course I lose.
But here's the crazy thing, I just went bowling again last Thursday. At this point I'm walking on a water because I'm coming off a 165. This happens to be a guy / girl mixer and I'm talking up my new found spinning expertise. So what do I do? I step up and roll a 148. Pretty solid score, almost all the balls are right on target -- this spinning thing has got a future in my life. But then game 2 comes and all a sudden I've lost it. Balls were finding the gutter, they weren't spinning back far enough, it was just a mess. I was like Samson with his hair cut off! Somehow I salvaged a 106. So game 3 comes up with a very important bet on the line and I need a big game. I have faith in the way of the spin so I stick with it. Even worse, I bowl a 92. I'm already a Has Been four games into my spin career.
So what's the lesson here? I'm not really sure. Go for broke and prepare for when broke comes along.
SUICIDE REFLECTION - SUNDAY SEPT 10th 2023
7 months ago
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2 comments:
The lesson is beginner's luck. :)
Beginner's luck cannot account for the fact that I have bowled 2 of my 3 all time best games with the way of the spin. I may have lost my oneness with the ball (or the lane may have been waxed poorly -- ooh that sounds really good) but I will become recentered with the spin and the bowling World will never be the same again!
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