Back in the Day

Back in the day... I've heard and used the saying a lot. It seemed like the ups & downs of growing up were so up and so down. One minute I could take on the world, the next my whole world would crumble.

Yet I learned so many great lessons. One in particular came to mind the other day as I was reading the book Resolved by Orrin Woodward. He talks about a process called, PDCA. It stands for plan, do, check, and adjust. As I was reading, I remembered very vividly a time when my plan and do crumbled in my own world. I grew up dancing, day in and day out. Since I was 4 years old, dance is all I knew and I was quite good at it, spending hours after school at the studio. As I moved into Jr. High, I easily made the drill team. I was very confident, until one day.

It was my ninth grade year, I had already made the drill team for the second time. Half way through the year, we were to have a second tryout. We were competing in the state competition and we had to reduce our team to the top 20 instead of the original 24. The tryouts didn't even phase me. I would just go in my usual gym clothes, throw my hair in a ponytail and rely on my accelerated skills to make the state team. As I entered the room where everyone was getting ready to try out, I noticed the other girls putting on make-up, wearing flashy dance wear. Even the girls I knew barely had a chance were dressing up and practicing. In my head I scoffed at their meager efforts. Even with all that, the judges would see who had the years of experience.

The tryouts went on, I performed overly confident in my abilities. At the end of the judges tally, we were all given an envelop and encouraged to take them home and open them at home where we could have our reactions. I still had no clue that my world was about to crumble. I remember walking to the car with my mom and brother, handing my brother the envelop and telling him to go ahead and open it. Before he opened his car door to get in he cleared his throat and read aloud, "You have been chosen as an alternative." I laughed and said, "no really, what does it say?" He looked back at me with a ghostly face and I ran and snatched the letter out of his hands. I kept thinking, this can't happen. I'm better then most of those girls. How can I watch as they practice, how can I watch as they go to state competition? It was a sickening feeling.

Those next few months were humbling and introspective. I may have had skills but it takes more then skills. It takes humility and enthusiasm to create the life you truly want. It was just the 'check' I needed to 'adjust' my current circumstance. I knew I could be one of the best, but I had to do what it takes to get there.

That next summer, there were tryouts for the high school Varsity and Junior Varsity dance teams. There were one-hundred and thirty girls trying out, and rarely did any sophomore make the varsity team. However this was my new goal. I knew I was one of the best but now I would have to be one of the best in the whole city. I wasn't going to take for granite my skills or walk in over confident. I practiced, I dressed up, I sold out to the process and I had the humble confidence to know that I could win.

I made the varsity team and I was in of the top eight overall. What a blessing it was that day I didn't make the state team. Back in the day, I learned a principle that gave me the confidence that I can accomplish more today!