You know that term a “runner’s high“? That exhilarating feeling a lot of people have after conquering the feat of completing a great run?
I don’t think this feeling is limited to the act of running. I think it applies across all spectrums of life.
For me, I can apply it most to golf and writing. It’s the feeling after signing my scorecard for a great round or putting that last period on the page for a blog that I think may have been my best.
Think about your passions. Those activities that light your soul on fire. Maybe you are a musician that can put music together like a seamstress knitting a wedding dress. Perhaps you’re a teacher, and seeing the growth in child makes your heart jump for joy. Whatever it is, I imagine when you’ve completed those activities with great success and you’ve had this “runner’s high.” That moment afterward, when you reflect for a second and think, “Ahah, that’s what it feels to be truly alive.”
Now, I realize it is not always easy to get there, but man is it a gift when it happens. I am fortunate to have two activities that bring that spark to my life… golf and writing.
I just had this thought that what if one could complement the other? For example, some of my best blogs are written as I play golf. In fact, as I write this, I walk down the fairway of the fifth hole at my home course, looking up at cotton candy skies. You can be the judge, but I think this is pretty good so far, and I’m three-under after five holes. Perhaps the simple notion of teeing it up for a sunset round with music in my ears allows my brain to enter a flow state in which I can easily put my thoughts into written word.
How can writing help my golf? A lot of times, people refer to each shot as a blank canvas. We are to visualize the shot like a painter just as they start their artwork.
I’m starting to think about each round as a blank piece of paper. What will that day’s story be? Will it be the day that everything seems to go my way, and I walk away victorious? Or maybe one of those days where every shot seems to be hard work, but the inner fight inside me tells me never to quit. You hate for it to happen, but we all have those days… when we shut the clubs in the trunk, sit in the car in a deep sigh just thanking God that round is over.
Regardless of how I played that day, when I sign that final scorecard, I hope I wrote a pretty good story. One where I played with passion. I made someone feel special. I let go of my fears and played for the joy of the game. I played with hopes of catching the post-round high. And I better have acted with class and good sportsmanship.
Now, this may seem like a rather audacious goal. But you see, if I can write that story every round regardless of the score, that is how I’ll know I’ve lived my dream every day.
For you, this blog may have been a little abstract. If anything, my wish is that it gave you a little itch to search for whatever may bring you that high. And when it comes, to take it in and realize just how special that moment is.