When John Wooden was a kid, his father gave him an early lesson, what Papa Wooden called his two sets of three.
Never lie, never cheat, never steal. Done whine, don’t complain, don’t make excuses.
I can't condone the first set--lying, cheating, and stealing, but you can get away with the second--whining, complaining, and making excuses, to a point.
Already in the back half of a legendary career, Kobe Bryant knew the end was near. He didn't want to stop until he got his sixth ring, but even he knew, there was a time when he would have to hang them up.
In 2013, maybe the last year he would ever have a chance of winning another NBA championship, he pushed off his left foot to attack the basket. Kobe heard a pop, a basketball player's worst nightmare--an Achilles tendon rupture.
History, up to that point, showed that no player who suffered such an injury came back anywhere near the player they once were. With Kobe, thirty-five at the time--already near the backend of his career, everyone expected the same. He was done. A legendary career over, at least the end of what he once was.
Even Kobe could sense it. That night, he let the world know with a Facebook post the depths of darkness he was in--the pain he felt and doubts he was facing.
You can cry. You can complain. You can whine. But you can't get stuck there.
You're a human being. The raw, unfiltered emotions of life are going to get the best of you. Lean into them and let them take fold. If you lost a loved one or got fired, let some tears out.
If you come up short of a dream, you can put your head down. If you let someone down, be pissed and angry. But only for a moment. What you can't do is get stuck there, spending days and weeks stuck in a state of victimhood.
Some of the shortcomings might be fair, others like Kobe's, not so much, which is why you can lean into what no one tells you, you should do, and complain. Because it's not complaining that is bad, it's prolonged complaining--sitting with the problem or issue or thing at hand for too long.
As Kobe said,
This is such BS! All the training and sacrifice just flew out the window with one step that I've done millions of times! The frustration is unbearable. The anger is rage. Why the hell did this happen ?!? Makes no damn sense. Now I'm supposed to come back from this and be the same player Or better at 35?!? How in the world am I supposed to do that??
You can utter those same words. Those same feelings. Those same emotions. But just as Kobe did, use that anger, that rage, that sadness for you. Get going and get moving.
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