Be Like a Duck

Be Like a Duck, or at Least Like My Daughter’s Basketball Team

“Be like a duck” is one of my favorite expressions I use to convey the need to be calm on the surface and not let things bother us. We may be paddling like crazy underneath the surface, but we just let everything else roll off our backs. I’m so high-strung that I don’t take my own advice as often as I should.  Maybe I need to have this tattooed on my forehead!

My daughter’s basketball team had an out of town tournament this weekend. They always look forward to tournaments and are excited to play but are even happier to get out of town together. There was very stiff competition, and unfortunately, our team didn’t perform to the best of their abilities. As spectators, the parents (myself included) engaged in a lot of analysis and advice-giving from the stands, but it didn’t make any difference in the way the girls played. They earned a spot in last place.

A group of parents and players went out to dinner after the first day of games and marveled at how the girls seemed more concerned with socializing, laughing, and adding pictures to their Snapchat stories than discussing how they could improve their performance. The joke among the parents was that we had payed a lot of money for the girls’ social club, since they clearly weren’t there for improving their basketball skills.

The more I thought about it, though, I decided that these girls really did take basketball seriously enough, but they didn’t wallow in their defeat. They let it roll off of their backs, like ducks. They didn’t slam doors, and stomp around in a huff. They handled losing with grace and understood that the loss was in the past, and they could only move forward.

As much as the parents wished the girls would have held a mini practice in the hotel parking lot and drawn up new plays and perfected old ones, these girls actually taught me a valuable lesson. Life is really too short to dwell on the past. Learn your lesson, and move on, enjoying the journey. I’m proud of them for handling the undesired outcome of losing with dignity and grace. They didn’t blame the refs. They didn’t make claims that other teams played dirty. They accepted that their team didn’t play their best and went on to make the most of their time together. Although they didn’t win the tournament, they left champions in my eyes!

We can all learn from that. Letting things roll off of our backs like a duck keeps us from wallowing in self-pity. We can be furiously paddling under the surface, but can we try to make sure we are paddling forward, not backward?! While we are at it, can we make sure we have our ducks in a row, too?

If you’re looking for more inspiration, check out our Motivation Page!

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