Sounds silly, but it’s serious
by Lyssa Myska Allen, who is 2-0 as a starting QB (and catches the pass pictured above)
I really love football.
I’m really good at football.
Through five games in my inaugural beach football season, I have caught a touchdown pass every game.
In our most recent game, there were three minutes left, the score was tied, and I’d dropped two long balls thrown my way. I was off my game—I hated the QB, I wanted to QB, it was cold, I wasn’t getting the ball as much as I was used to … wah wah wah. I was standing on the line of scrimmage and thought to myself, “I guess it’s okay if you don’t extend your touchdown streak. It’s important to you but that’s just vanity talking, and it’s not going to happen and that’s okay too.”
The next play, I ran a flag to the back corner of the end zone and jumped higher than even I thought possible to just get my fingertips on the ball—and catch it. We score, we win the game, my streak is extended.
Sometimes, by letting go, you let it in. I didn’t just let go of my attachment to the TD streak, I let go of my attachment to the game. The annoyance, the what-ifs, the frustration, I let them all go. And that allowed me to just be me.
Me just happens to be a phenomenal athlete who can catch ridiculous passes in the endzone, for touchdowns.
But even if I hadn’t caught the pass, I would have relieved myself of the annoyance and THAT is what matters.