Autobiographical+Incident

Kyle Morgan 10/23/10     3B ** __ Autobiographical Incident __ ** Have you ever gotten so frustrated with something you wanted to quit? Everyone has those moments sometimes. When nothing seems to go right, it gets hard to tell exactly what you’re doing wrong. Sometimes even when you realize what you’re doing wrong, it’s hard to stop. I have been in one of these situations before. This is the story of how I handled it. It was late August, the time of year when the temperature is in the 100s and most children sit inside and dread the months of school to come. I had made the golf team and I was loving every sweat-filled minute of each weekday afternoon. The coaches and older players had taught me a lot and I was getting much better. However, everyone has days where nothing seems to go right. I had one of those days at Kempsville Greens. It had been a long day for me, filled with quotes such as, “I didn’t even know it was possible to hit it that far to the right!” and “How did my ball get over there?” I felt as if I couldn’t hit a good shot to save my life. I was getting very frustrated and down on myself. I almost wanted to quit. It was then that our captain, Steven Claffy, came and talked to me. “How are you playing, Kyle?” asked Steven. “Terrible,” I replied, “I haven’t hit a good shot all day.” “That’s okay,” said Steven, unaware that he was about to say something very wise. “It’s not always about avoiding bad habits; it’s about remembering good ones and following those.” I thought back to the last time I had hit a good shot, remembering what I had done right. I focused on doing that rather than avoiding other things and finally I was able to hit a good shot. The same principle applies to my life. It is just as important to remember and reinforce good habits as it is to avoid bad ones. I learned an important lesson that day out on the golf course. It still helps me in golf as well as in life. If things go wrong and there is a way I can fix it, I now go about it by thinking back on what I was doing right rather than avoiding what I was doing wrong.