I played on my dorm’s intramural soccer team for one season in university. I had little experience with team sports and occasionally took off in the wrong direction, but nobody seemed to mind.
Our unofficial coach was an upper year student who lived a few floors above mine. I can’t remember his name, but I can picture him, clear as day. He stood on the sidelines at every game and cheered us on — by name. Even during my worst performances, I could hear his encouragement above the cross-talk on the field.
“Way to hustle, Christie!”
“Great pass, Christie!”
I’ve never forgotten how it felt to be cheered on like that. It helped me play better. It made me look forward to every game.
Fast-forward a generation, and my daughter is a track athlete. Recently, as I watched from the sidelines during a very challenging meet, a vision of my unofficial intramural soccer coach sprang to mind. Suddenly, more than anything, I wanted to be that person.
I went for it, cheering loudly for every athlete who was giving it their all — by name. It was strange at first and a little scary, and totally awesome. I like to think someone heard their name above the din, felt encouraged as I did years ago, and found some untapped energy to finish their race or jump a little further.
I don’t know that I’ll ever fully embody the sideline parent who confidently encourages every competitor on the track, has a wide-open smile, and easily strikes up conversations in the stands, but that’s who I want to be. Having a clear vision to guide me makes it a lot easier to walk in that direction.
Of course, I wanted to think more about this, so I started a new journal page, which quickly turned into two! They’re all about putting words to our images of who we want to be in different situations and thinking about small steps to get there.
There are so many ways to think about who you want to be — far more than I could include in two pages, but these were the ones that inspired me. If you’d like to give them a journal, click here or on the image above!
(The pdf file includes two page sizes: letter and A4.)
As always, I’d love to know what you think! What insights do you have about who you want to be?