It’s hard not being the star or the top dog but we don’t always come out as the best and we need to accept where we are at. We have to learn our role whether in the workplace or at home and accept and eventually embrace it.
You know I often reference how sports mirror life. It’s true with roles. Role players is frequently used in some sports as players may be defensive specialists or rebounders, etc. These players may have some limitations but they accept those and instead go in and do what they do well.
I love this current Phillies team and how well they all seem to get along. One player who seems to be the life of the party (if you’ve seen the post clinching celebrations you know) is Garrett Stubbs, the Phillies backup catcher. He always seems to be having a great time and is so loved by his teammates he was the team’s Heart and Hustle Award winner this year.
I read a great article on Stubbs by Phillies writer Todd Zolecki that discussed how Stubbs knows he’s the backup catcher and just embraces that role. He even got a glove with his nickname “Day Games” on it, a reference to the fact that he mostly plays day games to give the starting catcher rest after games the night before. Zolecki wrote how Stubbs still spends hours studying hitters so he knows what to call in case he has to go in at any time as well as to help the BCIB (Best Catcher in Baseball), as many refer to Phillies starter JT Realmuto as.
We met Stubbs at a Meet and Greet in August and the guy was so genuine and nice we were blown away and can see why he is so loved by his teammates and fans. He’s a guy that accepted his role as backup and is just the ultimate teammate.
My role when I first returned to work after having Bryce and completing chemo was an entirely different job from what I had. It took me a long time to accept the change and my new role. But once I moved past the anger and hurt of losing the fitness center and pool position I had and poured all my efforts into my new Sports Information job, I grew to love it and love what I do. I finally embraced my new role and I was happy. It took awhile but the acceptance of my role made me feel so much better than trying to resist to.
I also had to change my role when I played sports. My first two years of high school basketball I was a scorer but this changed with the addition of a teammate who was also a scorer. I became a pass first point guard instead of shoot first and focused more on my defense. I often had to guard the opponent’s best player, a challenge I enjoyed (except when we played Peddie who was loaded with stars!) I accepted that I was no longer a scorer and I found other ways to make a difference on the court. It was hard going from averaging close to 20 points a game down to 10 points a game but if that’s what I needed to do for our team that’s what I would do. That was not an easy change but I eventually came to accept my new role.
Enough rambling on about me and Garrett Stubbs. My point is simply that things change in life just like they do in sports and we must learn to embrace and accept that change even if our roles are different because of the change. Accepting is so much easier than resisting though it may take time. There is little we can control in life but we can control or try to control how we embrace change and our role even if it’s not exactly what we want it to be.
Just look at Garrett Stubbs and how much fun he is having next time you start to resist a change in your role. He has embraced being Mr. Day Games and the team loves him and all the energy he brings every day, especially to post game celebrations!
#embraceyourrole #roleplayer #GarrettStubbs #acceptchange
