Make Room To Wrestle

One of my fondest memories of growing up was wrestling with my dad. He'd come home from work, put his briefcase down, kiss my mom, and say hi to me and my siblings before changing out of his work clothes. Once he reappeared in the living room, he was fair game for wrestling with us, and we took full advantage of this living and breathing jungle gym.

Frequently, when he'd inevitably pin me or have me in a hold, he say, "I'll let you go but you have to promise me one thing first - that one day when you are bigger and stronger than me, you'll still be nice, okay?"

My dad is a very wise man.

He knew his sons were going to be taller than him.

And we all are.

We're all at least 5 inches taller than my dad.

(My mom's father was 6' 5")

Not knowing it, growing up and getting bigger than my dad, he'd already incepted us. He planted the idea that 1) we'd one day be bigger and 2) we still had to be nice.

And he did that while wrestling with us — a long time before we needed that lesson.

I've recently been wrestling with some ideas that might one day grow to be much bigger than they are right now. I've been forced to ask, "What lesson do I want to impart into their ideas now so that when they've grown, they'll still be nice to me?"

I have also been aware of another perspective in the story.

My dad wasn't pinning us to share a lesson, he was pinning us because at a certain point he got tired and had to slow the pace and energy of the situation. He had to exert more effort to get to a place of control and rest. Even while he was tired. After a long day at work.

There are a few things I am wrestling with that I need to gain more control over, and I am struggling to ramp up the energy to regain control and breathe with them in a subdued state.

I am curious about what you're reading, watching, or listening to that is giving you the energy to do the hard things this month - is there anything that you'd be willing to share with me?

We all get by with a little help from our friends.

I appreciate you.

Andy