Clear The Mechanism

Do you ever feel like you’re in a fog? Like the kind when you feel like you start your week off good, and then it just feels like everything gets inside your head. The kind when you start to wonder if you are doing enough, or if you are going to be enough?

This last week was like that for me. I won’t lie. I felt like in my own life I just kept overthinking things and became really hard on myself. If you don’t know me, I am very hard on myself. I know who I am as a person, and the man I want to become, and to get there I hold myself to a high standard in everything I do. So when I don’t live up to the expectation I have in my head for how things should have turned out, sometimes I beat myself up over it.

For example, my biggest thing I beat myself up over is baseball. I know I am talented, I know I have a future playing this game. But there are times when I feel like the work I have been putting in, is not enough. I get overwhelmed thinking about if I am doing enough and if my ability will be enough. This is kind of weird when I think about it because you can not simply be enough on talent alone. There are so many intangible things that go into a career. So why I get worked up about talent alone, or the work I have put in alone, I think I just think too much. Ok but back to the point, I overthink and at times it affects my attitude toward some amazing things I have accomplished.

To think about it like this, I have to look back sometimes and not discredit the things I HAVE done to see how far I have come. I set goals for this offseason. I set goals for myself to continue pushing myself. And what is crazy is that not only did the goals I did set get absolutely crushed, I was also able to be around people who saw the work I put in and acknowledged it. That was huge for me, someone affirming that truth in my life.

So how does one “clear the mechanism”? Every time I say this line, I think of the movie For Love of the Game with Kevin Costner (Billy Chapel). He is a pitcher playing for the Detroit Tigers pitching in Yankee Stadium. And when he takes the mound, hearing thousands of fans yelling. He simply says “clear the mechanism”, and his tunnel focus kicks in. The only focus is on the plate, there is no more noise, no more thoughts, no more distractions.

In my life, it may not be simply stating “clear the mechanism”. But it may be things in my life that I have to remind myself of the truths. Remind myself of the work I have put in. Not letting one day, or one event within a day fog my mind. I know it is easier said than done, but it is a daily choice to not be consumed by a toxic thought that is going to potentially ruin where you are headed.

So be free - trust that the things you are doing are enough, and know that the plan you are working towards is already worked out. For me, and I know it is hard at times, but it is knowing that God is working for me at ALL times.

What are some things in your life you need to “clear the mechanism”?

How are you going to “clear the mechanism”, and be free of those distractions?