There's lots of talk about how bad officiating is ruining the NFL. I don't watch enough games to compare it from year to year, but I've certainly seen my fair share of bad calls, and of course many bad plays too. I always think how grateful I am my mistakes aren't on display for millions to see in real time and in replay after replay after replay. Luckily officials have the opportunity to review some plays, and they get the chance to reverse the call.
Wouldn't it be nice if we could do the same in real life?
Sometimes we can.
Every time I reread a blog post I've written, I find little tweaks I'd like to make, from correcting typos to improving word choice to cutting whole sentences. I usually I let them be. But after I posted on Monday morning, two sentences I included in my blog post stuck with me the rest of the day. When I was talking about staying flexible and pivoting, I said, as an aside, "I still rooted against the Patriots though. I'm not about to sacrifice my hard-core beliefs."
That doesn't sound very pivot-y, does it? I realized after the fact that my deep-seated dislike for the Patriots is probably unfounded and a waste of energy. What did the Patriots ever do to me? Yeah, I'm not crazy about the cheating, the ball deflating, the Trump associating, or the cutoff sweatshirt wearing, but if I took a closer look, I'd find controversies in a lot of coaches or players. I realized what it really comes down to is that I don't like how good they are. When I can't root for the home team, I almost always root for the underdog. So it turns out, it's not really about the Patriots then, but about me! And the more I think about it, not liking someone because they're so good is really rather silly.
So while I'll be behind the Rams in the Super Bowl, I won't be vocal about cheering against the Patriots. If they dominate, I'll do my best to appreciate their talent and teamwork.
And while I almost never make a change to a previous blog post, I did this time. I took out those two sentences.
It occurs to me that if I can rethink my attitude toward the Patriots, I can do it in other areas too. You can too. Is your energy being used wisely? Or are you fighting battles you can't win, arguing with reality, or standing so entrenched in an opinion that you might be missing out on something?
When you've put it out there, you can't always take it back. When you've had a long-standing opinion, it can be hard to change it. But when you get a chance and you will be healthier for it, reverse the call.
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