Last month our son competed in his final high school athletic event. It was a bittersweet feeling as a parent to realize that an era was ending.

I am incredibly proud of my son, but the way he ended his high school athletic career had a profound impact on me.

Not only has Tate’s first year of wrestling included a very steep learning curve, but for most of the season he has been wrestling guys who are nearly 50% heavier than he is.

A 12-HOUR IMPOSSIBLE TASK

At weigh-ins the day before the district meet, Tate was 7 lbs underweight, which meant if he wanted to wrestle in his final meet, he’d need to GAIN 7 lbs in 12 hours.

And to make matters more challenging, eight of those hours would be spent sleeping (fasting), so essentially, he would need to gain nearly 2 lbs per hour during his eating window.

For those of us in mid-life, this doesn’t seem like much of a daunting task. Simply LOOKING at some food seems to cause us to gain 7 lbs, but for an 18-yr-old kid, that’s a near impossible task!

I encouraged him to sit this meet out. What’s the point anyway? Even if he could gain 7 lbs in 12 hrs what was his reward – wrestling a polar bear?

He’d literally be stepping into a ring knowing that, no matter how hard he tried, it’d physically impossible to win.

But Tate’s mind was made up.

He was competing.

THE LAST MATCH

That night and the next morning he ate so much food and drank so much water that he was literally throwing up in his mouth while he was weighing in on the scales at the meet.

But it worked.

He made weight by .7 lbs (which took some creativity…specifically wearing four pairs of underwear and five pairs of socks J).

Tate’s last match he went all three rounds without getting pinned. He still lost, but it was the first time all season where a heavyweight wrestler was unable to get Tate’s shoulders to the ground.

The aggression, effort, and tenacity he showed in that match going toe to toe against a guy who was over 280 lbs was truly inspiring. He was utterly exhausted but his heart was full.

A couple weeks ago, genuinely curious and still scratching my head, I asked him why he chose to wrestle.

Everyone would have understood if he chose not to step into the ring. He was underweight and had no chance of winning anyway. Why put yourself through all that?

“Dad, I wanted to wrestle at districts. I wanted to compete;

it didn’t matter if I won or not.

Competing and losing is better than not competing at all”

Of course.

Of course he’d want to compete.

Of course it wasn’t about winning or losing.

Yet again, my son had taught me some valuable lessons I’d somehow lost as an adult.

4 TAKEAWAYS

• Circumstances are a terrible excuse for why I can’t do something

Where are you quietly resigning yourself and settling for “what’s reasonable” in your life or business; simply because circumstances are hard? Since when did circumstances stop you?

• When was the last time I fought so hard for something I was willing to do whatever it took to make it happen?

You probably assume this statement is about your business. It certainly can be, but what if you turned the lens on your marriage, your relationship with your kids, your faith, or your health?

• If I’m always winning, I’m not really challenging myself.

When was the last time you intentionally put yourself in a situation where you knew failure was a high likelihood? Over the last 30 days, have you optimized for your growth or your safety?

• I may not always win, but I will ALWAYS step into the arena

Failure sucks. But to allow fear of failure to prevent you from stepping into the arena is far worse. What arenas are you avoiding entering, simply because you’re afraid to fail?