Castaway

I love the movie Castaway for many reasons. One scene has special meaning for me. Tom Hanks is able to escape the island on a raft, but looks back one last time. The island literally saved his life when he landed there a few years early. But over time it had become his own personal prison. He was terrified to leave. The island provided security. It was also constricting his life.

In my post Freedom, I talked about letting go.Freedom I’ve had struggles with letting go from time to time. My biggest challenge by far has been the feeling that I always need to hurry. When we worked cattle at the ranch my first job of the day was to catch our horses, in the dark. If I wasn’t moving fast enough I’d hear my Dad say, “Hurry up the sun’s going down.” It hadn’t even come up yet!  I wasn’t surprised. This was coming from a man who would get to the restaurant in the morning before the cook was there. Other common phrases of his were “Time is the fourth dimension.” and “If you’re too late, you’re too late.” I learned to get things done quickly.

I carried this lesson throughout my life and it often served me well. I needed that skill when I started my business. It was just as valuable when I coached basketball. I would often tell the players, “It’s not how long we practice, it’s how much we get done that matters.”

Once I retired I discovered that this mindset had become my prison. It was no longer serving me. It was my master. My actions were being dictated by it. Breaking free is a process I’m working on. Many times a day I tell myself, “I have all the time I need.”

Brene’ Brown the brilliant sociologist explains that we all get knocked around by life, especially in our childhood and young adult years. We compensate in many different ways by adding different types of psychological armor to protect ourselves. There comes a time when that armor becomes our prison. I have identified part of mine and am still working on casting it away. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7w8KVXvgsFw

May you have enough today, one moment at a time.