Pressure

Pressure: it transforms coal into diamonds. It can lift you to new heights, or it can send you crashing down. I crave being in the lead of a golf tournament. I’m out there alone, being chased by a pack of wolves, who want nothing more than to swallow me up. It’s the ultimate chance to prove myself. I have to keep my…

Spilled Milk

The temperature had fallen like a glass of milk off the edge of a table. Wind came whipping across the snow-covered landscape, biting and misanthropic, making the cold more sinister. I was standing there in a deserted parking lot, without boots, thick pants, or a warm- enough jacket. I knew I wasn’t properly outfitted to deal with these conditions and…

What Have I Become?

The Denver Broncos, my childhood team and greatest love in the sporting world, played against the most dastardly and evil franchise in sports yesterday, the New England Patriots. This has always been the game I circle on the calendar. The chance to wear my heart on the orange and blue sleeves of the jerseys that I grew up in. It…

Just Coffee, Black

I rise early, as the weak morning rays of sunlight filter through the window. The stiffness in my joints more pronounced than on other mornings, I creak and groan into an upright position. I make my way down the amber colored hallway until I feel the familiar, well-worn staircase beneath my feet, each rasp of the maple steps playing its…

Freedom

Freedom was never something I had to question. It’s strange, but I never wanted to rebel. At least not in the way some of my friends did. Rebelling, for me, is finding my way in the professional world while bucking the traditional college route. Growing up homeschooled had a huge affect on me. Rather than being stuck behind a desk for…

Halfway There

Seeing as how this is the halfway point of my 31-day blogging challenge. I thought I would go over some of the lessons I’ve learned up to this point. Fear can be a great motivator. When I started this project there was nothing that scared me more than staring at a blank screen and having to fill it with words. I knew…

Deliberate Practice

Malcolm Gladwell says it takes roughly 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to achieve mastery in a field. I want to see how far one week of deliberate practice will take me. I’m ready to overcome the fear I have of talking to a camera. I hate not being able to read body language or have someone to bounce ideas off of…

Overthinking It

I’ve shortchanged and sabotaged myself more times recently than I care to admit. All because I have a tendency to overthink things. My best golf is played when I pick a target and hit the ball—no messing around trying to select between different clubs. I pick the one I want and let feel take over, not bothering to think about whether I’m…

When Nothing Works

There are days when nothing works. You can’t put two and two together and make four. You can take the easy way out and put it off until your muse returns. I choose to press onward, banging my head against the wall until it begins to crumble. Cracks appear and the light of inspiration shines through. I notice, standing there…

Shifting Gears

I’m driving down the highway, the mile markers flying by at regular intervals, passing cars on the left. The fundamentals of driving take a backseat in my mind. It’s all become instinctual. Left foot on the clutch, downshift into fourth to get past this guy, alright, shift back to fifth, there, high beams back on. All of it, unconscious, like breathing. My…