First Inning: Get Started!

The Major League Baseball season stretches from April to October. It includes over 160 regular league games and that doesn’t include pre-season games or the play-offs. With a game averaging 2 ½ hours, that’s a lot of time on the baseball diamond.

What happens in the first inning of the first game has very little bearing on who will go to the World Series. A season lasts a long time and the average batter will be in the batter’s box over 500 times in a season. Sometimes the at bat leads to a hit, but more often than not, they strike out. But that first time up to bat doesn’t set the tone for the season unless they let it.

A Season of Health works the same way. While any one ‘pitch,’ an injury, a sick toddler, missed workouts or a Big Mac may seem like a strike out, and it is, in that moment – in the overall scheme of things, it is only one day in a 365 day season. Yes, great players play hard every at bat but they also know how to shake off a strike out and move ahead to the next inning.

To get healthy and fit, you need that kind of perspective. Sure, you want to hit a home run each and every time you are at bat. You want to make a play every time the ball comes your way, but chances are you are going to flub a few easy catches and miss a few good pitches. That is the nature of the game.

Sometimes your perfectly scheduled work-out day gets derailed by an extra shift at your job. Sometimes, an unhappy toddler stymies your workout by clinging to your ankles as you attempt to do lunges. Sometimes you get stuck at Costco during lunch and have to eat a hot dog. Sometimes you can figure out a solution and sometimes you just have to let it go and move forward. Realize you will have many more opportunities to make your season a winning one.

To put this in a baseball perspective, the best hitters in baseball typically have a batting average of around .300. That means for every 10 times they are up to bat, they fail to get on base seven times! These are the best of the best! Even Babe Ruth had a lifetime batting average of only .342.

Most baseball clubs are striving for a winning season – meaning they win more than they lose. That should be your goal too! Win more days than you lose. And when you do lose some – workout time, healthy meal or a good night’s sleep, dust yourself off and start again.

Getting healthy and fit is a LIFETIME Season that cannot be accomplished in a day. It will take many days and the goal is to keep going even when you have a bad day. You are playing for your life!

Play Ball!