The Urge To Go (For It)

Everybody should have the experience of the nervous pees. That’s what we used to call it in the locker room. It is simply a strong urge to urinate whether your bladder is full or not. It may be accompanied by what they call “butterflies in the stomach.”

The urge is very real and sometimes painful (often with little or no immediate relief). It happens when you are about to run onto the field to compete in a sport, or walk on stage to perform, or stand up and make a speech.

It is a symptom of your commitment to taking a risk, exposing your physical or musical or mental skills to a lot of people who are about to make judgments about you.

It has been said that the real benefit to the soul is in the discipline of all the hard work you put into the preparation. That may be true, but I know personally if you are under-prepared, you are stepping onto a slippery slope that might result in some serious humiliation. Even so, without that step forward out into the spotlight, you can never experience the full reward of doing  something outstanding.

I have had the following quote up on the wall of my office for the last twenty-five years:

“Far better it is to dare mighty things
To win glorious triumphs
Even though checkered with failure
Than to take rank with those poor spirits
Who neither enjoy much
Nor suffer much
Because they live in the grey twilight
That knows not victory nor defeat”
- – Theodore Roosevelt

I failed at some mighty things I tried. And, man does that hurt. But I also won a few and that is sweeter than sweet. Nobody can take away those memories. So, whatever your specialty is, don’t be shy. Step out and show the world your very best.

I know a lot of old-timers. I never talked to any who regretted having given everything they had to some great personal quest.  The ones who carry regrets are the ones who didn’t risk going for it.

-  Marlan Jennings Holland

Disclaimer -  I am not a professional writer, and certainly not an investigative journalist. I don’t have time to do research and document all the details. What I write is based upon what I remember, and I write it as accurately as I can.  All similarity to real people is intentional because they all were, and some still are.