Is Something Wrong with Me??
The first week of August I attended a virtual conference for my job. It is called the Global Leadership Summit. I attend it annually and it is soooo good. It always gives me a little refresh and kick-start after the summer.
I had the privilege of hearing Coach Mike Krzyzewski speak, the former Men’s Head Basketball coach at Duke and the Men’s Basketball coach of the U.S.A. Olympics team for 11 years.
He told a story of Kobe Bryant and LeBron James playing together in one of the first Olympic basketball games.
In this game, Kobe had taken a bunch of bad shots. Coach K knew it and LeBron confronted Coach K and said, “You are going to talk to Kobe, right?” Coach K, told him yes. LeBron
gave him a look and said, “You Sure?” and Coach K, said he knew that look was a look of “If you don’t we are sunk, no Olympic golds for us.”
That night Coach K, talked about going back to his hotel room and said “How in the world, am I going to hold the greatest player in the world accountable?”
One thing he knew was that if he didn’t talk to Kobe and he continued to take those bad shots, they would lose. In passing Coach K said, “I didn’t sleep AT ALL that night.”
He proceeded to talk about calling Kobe in the next day, He showed him the footage and said,
“Kobe you took a bunch of bad shots, you can’t do that again.” Kobe said “Okay.” And that was it.
Coach K said “I lost a night’s sleep for an “Okay!”
Coach K went on to talk about other leadership principles, but I have been stuck on this….
He said he “didn’t sleep at all that night!”
He experienced…”losing a night’s sleep!”
This is Coach K we are talking about, super leader, super coach! He has been doing this forever, and he lost a night’s sleep worrying, spinning, trying to figure out the best way to approach this problem?
Wow!
I think sometimes I think I am the only one… but wait….I am not???
Do you ever feel like me… frustrated with yourself for some of your human frailties?
Frustrated with your anxious mind? Frustrated with how it is manifesting in your body?
I need moments like this one. The moment when Coach K, a person who could be considered superhuman, super leader, super coach, expresses that he is HUMAN too! 
The worry, the anxiousness, the stress we undergo when things matter, when there is pressure, when we have a lot on our mind, or a lot on the line, this is common, normal, and maybe even necessary in our wrestling with our humanity and working out our solutions to life’s challenges.
I also recently watched a documentary on Jonah Hill’s Therapist called “Stultz” and it is so so goodI highly recommend it.
In the movie, Dr. Stultz and Jonah talk about different techniques or tools that Dr. Stultz has created to help people with their human quirks/struggles.
One of the things that stood out to me was Jonah talked about moments when his mind would keep him up at night and how Dr. Stultz taught him to “go with the energy instead of fight against it.”
Often in moments like this I can get super frustrated and fight and fight! I fight my mind and fight for sleep. And what Dr. Stultz teaches is to use that energy, and channel it. Not fight against it.
For example, you can’t sleep, so get up and write, be creative, workout, do yoga, clean something, organize something, read, or just allow yourself to think about the problem your brain is trying to solve.
When I travel it is hard for me to settle down and sleep the first night. I travel often for work, so this can be frustrating. But I have learned my little patterns, and I try to encourage myself, “You can do this for one night, you WILL be able to function tomorrow! You know your body will crash when it is
tired tomorrow night.”
I know each of us is on a journey of learning ourselves and trying to deal gently with our quirks and weaknesses. I just want to encourage you my dear, that you are not alone in the struggle.
Your humanness is beautiful and such an incredible reminder that there is life in your bones and air in your lungs.
As we walk this journey of becoming, be gentle with yourself. YOU are NORMAL. Your struggles, your imperfections, your sleepless nights- all of it human, all of it common..
ALL of IT!
With you on the journey,
From my 
Heart to Yours,
#wholeness#soulwork#becomingme#becoming#mentalhealth#spiritualgrowth
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