Origin Story

 Hearing an origin story seems to be one of those things that goes in spurts. For three or four months it’s all you hear about, and then you go a year without the word coming up again. I used to think that an origin story was where you were born and the area you grew up. My thoughts on that have changed over the years. But, if it’s not that, then what is an origin story? I didn’t look up the proper definition, but to me, it’s the training and failures you had that got you to where you are today.

Why Those Two Things?

Why do I focus on those two areas instead of something more positive? I could have said experiences and successes. It’s true that experiences and successes help shape who you are right now, but not as much as training and failures. Training to me is the daily habits that you have done over a long period of time that now you don’t even think about. Obviously, I’m late this week, but I want to put out an article for so long on Monday mornings that when I go to work on it, it doesn’t feel like a challenge or a chore. I want the failure of not putting out an article or not putting it out on time to bother me so much that failing isn’t an option. If I can do that over a long period of time, then I can call myself a writer. Until then, this isn’t my story, it’s more like a hobby.

My Origin Story

For some reason a few weeks ago something I did years ago popped into my head. It was only for a brief moment, but when that moment passed, I thought about how those experiences shaped me for the rest of my life. I’ve talked a lot about sports on this site, but it seems to always revolve around baseball. So, is that the only sport I ever played? This is where failure starts to play a role. I think the first sport I ever played was soccer. At one point in my life my room was filled with trophies from playing soccer. My team was really good, I was very average. I had no passion for soccer, but I loved playing on a team. I think we had a three year stretch where we finished in second place every year. During those years I learned about practicing and what you need to do when the game isn’t being played if you want to be good. I learned how to play on a team and how if the team wins, everyone wins. I also learned that second place sucks. I tried basketball for a year, not a fan. One and done for me with that sport. In the end, baseball was my passion, and I ended up playing baseball or softball until I was in my late thirties. I love to win, I hate to lose, I love celebrating with a team and even today, I love to just throw a ball against a wall. For some reason that small act cures everything that is on my mind.

Is Life Only About Baseball?

I would love to say yes to this question, but I can’t. Baseball taught me how to be a team player and in some ways a leader, but it didn’t teach me how to talk to people. This takes me back to what I said before, this is the story that passed through my head for a brief moment a few weeks ago. When I was younger, starting in grade school, we would always do the same thing every summer, two times a summer, we would go to church camp. I don’t know how weird that sounds to people now, but back then it’s what we did. It lasted from Sunday to Friday. We met people from all over the area, I had a lot of friends who grew up over an hour away from me. Back then the only way we could stay in touch with them was to write them letters all year long. Camp was every week throughout the whole summer, each week was a different age group. Summer lasted longer back then, so for some age groups you had two different options on when you could go, or you could go to both. Once you get to your teenage years, if invited, you could help different weeks with the younger kids. For a couple summers that’s all I did, I would leave on Sunday afternoon, get home on Friday, do laundry and then head back out on Sunday. I learned to lead groups of kids; I learned to talk to in front of people and I learned how to explain things. Those are things that I am known for now.

Bringing it all Together

When I think about all of this, this is my origin story. I played lots of sports, in most of those sports I experienced team success, but not always personal success. Being on a team taught me about winning as a group and working together. Helping younger kids taught me how to talk to people and get in front of a group. It taught me the value of being able to explain things to many different people. I encourage everyone this week to think about things that happened when you were younger that shaped you into who you are today. I also want people to realize that something that may seem to be a failure, could just be a lesson setting us up for something great later. It’s a long journey, and it's far from over!