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Who is the Boston Sports Woman?

Writing is in my head 99% of the day.  Ideas of stories parade through my brain like kids on a kickball field all arguing over the rules.  I can’t keep it straight so I ignore it.  I push it away.  I peruse the internet to clear my head, only to find another idea pop in and battle all the others.  Sitting in front of the computer, offering all those keys that put words together somehow has haunted me the last couple of years. What was I afraid of? Why can’t I move forward?

For two years I have paid to have this site still going, although it took you nowhere. I was nowhere.  Working, living, breathing, working out, mothering…while all the while still feeling a little empty.  My Instagram feed reminds me everyday that the Boston Sports Woman was around.  But was she?  Who is she now that she had no website? Just another nickname to hide my true identity?  Is that what this has been all along?

It all started with an old colleague who asked me what I was doing after I was laid off during the Great Recession.  Nothing really.  My job search was a joke, and I found myself consumed by blogs.  Health and Fitness blogs caught my eye.  He then asked me to lead a Sports Website written from a woman’s perspective.  So I took on the persona, recruited great bloggers who shared amazing posts about their lives, their interests in fitness, food, sports and family. Uncovering like-minded women who shared passions and wanted to share them with the world.

That was nearly 10 years ago.  I’m still The Boston Sports Woman. But, who is she? What is her mission? What are her guiding principles? I actually never had any idea who she is other than a name. Until today.

Do you ever notice that we’re consumed by statistics to paint a picture of successes and failures?  Failing is good.  Success is great.  But what about the in between? Maintaining.  I’ve been in maintenance mode for the last two years, yet all along, I have been creating this persona, developing her mission, her principles, and finding her path.

I am the Boston Sports Woman.  I am a passionate writer of stories tying my life to sports, making analogies that sometimes only I can understand. My guiding principle is simple – give each story a purpose, share pieces of your life and maintain who you are. Although you may not have been writing those stories down all this time, you were holding them in your head, you just needed the playing field.

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Take a Shot

There are very few times I’m willing to take a “shot”, and then there are those times when I love to “take a shot”.  Yes, there’s Fireball.  At one time there were Kamikaze’s, limoncello, and pickle shots.  But there is no shot in this world I love to take than the shot.Fireball

I’m talking about taking risks that you really enjoy and bring great pleasure.  Just like that little glass of Fireball, so is every chance you take when you put yourself out on a limb.  This past year proved my ability to take a shot.  I changed jobs from corporate America, and jumped back to the advertising agency world.  Some days it can be trying, and other days, tedious. But most days it brings extreme self-gratification.

Can you honestly say that work brings you self-gratification?  For the first time in my life I’m surrounded by people like me.  We’re people pleasers, honestly we want everyone to like us.  Should something go wrong, we fix it.  Should someone be unhappy, we try everything in our arsenal to make them happy.

But it was this past week that delivered great satisfaction.  I could see it in everyone’s faces.  As though they had all taken that proverbial shot, their faces went from absolute fear to complete pleasure.  This was the week each of us had to stand up in front of all our peers, present the status of each of our clients, answer key questions from the management team, breathe a sigh of relief, then finally sit down and support the next victim.

I watched as each of us faced that 15 minutes of fear.  Climbing out on that limb. Waiting for your turn, running over your notes, your thoughts, and hardly listening to those before you.

In my case, I love to talk in front of a group of people.  Especially my peers.  It’s far more relaxing for me to stand up in front of people than it is to chit-chat with a group of playground mommies gossiping after school.  Seriously.

No nervous stomach.  No butterflies.  Just excitement.  When it was my turn to “take my shot” and it felt good.  First and foremost, I was myself.  A little silly, a little off-color, extremely direct, and most of all, quick.

When it’s your turn to take your shot, be yourself.  No one else can please you more, than you.

 

 

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Keep Your Chin Up!

Strike Three!

Strike Three!

“Strike three, your out!” That phrase has so many connotations. Clearly, in baseball, your out, but that’s just one at bat.  In life, it could land you prison for life in some states.  And in friendships, like life, it can mean the time has come to end a long friendship.  But does it really?

Is it that we only have the patience for three? “Good things come in threes.” My mother always told me.  She always took the positive approach. So why is it that we look at three strikes as a negative?  Baseball players adjust for the next time they’re at bat.  Why can’t we do that in life?  Adjust? Look at the positive?

Baseball players who are able to put their last strike out behind them can move on, adjust, and prepare to get that next hit.  Focus. Determination. Concentration.  Apply these things to life and those “strikes” become lessons learned.  A strike in life is not a bad thing, it’s just another point in time in which things didn’t go your way.

Just get ready for your next at bat.  Your next opportunity to adjust.  But always remember, you can always strike out again.