Two nights ago, the Chicago Bulls played the Boston Celtics in Game 6 of the first round of the 2009 playoffs. I happened to turn on the TV and see the game with about 5 minutes left.
Because I grew up in Chicago, I was cheering for the Bulls (and it creates an interesting dynamic since I’ve lived in Boston for over 14 years and my wife was cheering for the Celtics.)
This 6th game was very exciting. The Bulls had built up their lead by 12 points with approximately 5 minutes left in the game. They seemed to have a good control of the game.
But then my heart sank when the Bulls were down by 8 with 3 minutes left. The momentum was now on the Celtics side. And I was about to text my brother saying that I thought the game was over.
How little faith I had… because the Bulls came back. But then the Celtics came back. Then the Bulls… then the Celts. Back and forth it went. When it was all said and done, the Bulls won by 1 in 3OT.
So, why am I sharing this story with you?
I saw very clearly that this game was a reflection of how many of us could live our lives.
In our lives, we each have our ups and downs. For some reason, when things are down, we panic and worry that it will last forever. We give up. Lose hope. Beat ourselves up.
But for what? This type of reaction does not support us.
Had either team lost hope and gave up, we wouldn’t have had the exciting game that we had. This game showed me that even when a situation may not look good at the moment, it will change.
And often times when we are faced with a challenging situation, it forces us to dig deeper inside ourselves to connect to our inner strength and passion that keeps us going.
We just need to have faith in ourselves and not give up. So, if you’re faced with any situation you don’t like, have faith in yourself that you can lift yourself out of it. The situation is there so that you can learn to count on yourself and remember what you’re made of.
And who knows, perhaps on some higher spiritual level, the Bulls and the Celtics were not just competing against each other in this Playoff series. Perhaps, they were helping each other connect to their inner strength. They were helping each other see what they were made of.
