Deep Breaths...

Regular readers may have noticed the Who I'm Stalking section on my blog.

The bloggers who feature on here are, in no particular order:
Frankie - Swell Vintage
Nic and Cabin
Chris
Jeanie
Steph
and overheardinnewyork.com

Tonight, I read Chris' post "Darwin Had It Right...", which was lovely, but I noticed how strung out he got over one tiny error he made at rugby practice. From his blog:

"...I had a hard time catching the ball at rugby practice... I compounded the problem by getting mad at myself... I know I will be hard at work in the Lakeshore Fieldhouse today because I messed up so royally. I expect my next tournament to be my best to date. It will be in part because of the mistakes I made tonight."

Whoa man. Messed up so royally? Dude, you didn't catch a ball. It happens. It's not like you screwed up your once-in-a-lifetime chance to medal at the Olympics (trust me, I know all about that). Or went bankrupt. OR WENT HOME WITH YOUR EX. You dropped a ball.

I know, I know. I blow things out of proportion all the time, so who am I to judge? I'm even guilty of over-punctuating on Facebook ("I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!" is not an uncommon feature on Sophie's page when I've been around). Overdoing things is my thing.

But it was just a ball.

In first year at the University of Otago, I got 69% in a paper I needed a minimum of 70% in to even be considered for a Medicine interview. I brushed it off. At the end of the same year, I jumped out of the Hamilton Municipal Pool three-quarters through a training session, told my swimming coach I didn't want to swim anymore, and left. Recently, I've been abandoning hopes of a perfect attendance record at the Samala Robinson Academy in favour of staying in bed all day.

Don't sweat the small stuff, people! Life is meant to be enjoyed. I don't know that dropping a ball is considered "screwing up royally". That kind of thing is reserved for situations where you type the wrong letter in some HTML code and ruin the entire University invoicing system. I don't even think referring to a girl in my class as "white trash" on a friend's Facebook page, where staff members and other students at the Academy could see it, is screwing up royally. First of all, she really really is white trash. And secondly, um, it's Facebook. Grow up?

I've done way worse stuff than dropping a ball at practice, and cared way less.

Less anger. More smile.