Embracing 2025
Embrace has two popular definitions. According to Oxford Languages, the first meaning is to hold closely in one’s arms. The second is to accept willingly and enthusiastically.
Embrace in the form of its second definition is my slogan for 2025.
Like many instances in our lives, we are met with moments of challenge, discomfort, and uneasiness. I believe the popular choice, and one that I gear towards sometimes, is to shy away and avoid those moments with excuses and inaction, which just leads to more of that discomfort and sense of overwhelm.
For the past few months, I have made an effort to embrace each of these moments, in every sense of the word.
I spend a few days a week during the summer at Bob O Link GC, caddying for the members. I have a couple of “regulars” who ask for my assistance. Occasionally, the member I am caddying for will be in a match, which I always enjoy. As I assist with reads on the putting green and yardages in the fairway, I think I can provide the biggest advantage to someone with what I say right before a shot.
The winner of these matches won’t get an exemption into The Masters, and it won’t be published on the front page of the Chicago Tribune, however each shot is presented with a delicious plate of nerves and self-doubt.
In one particular match last summer, the member and I stepped up to the 9th tee in a good position. With a drive, he would have a firm grip on the match going into the back nine. As he was behind the ball, I said with some enthusiasm: “Have fun with this one.” He smiled and proceeded to stripe one down the middle.
On the golf course, there are only a few options - It can be good, it can be ok, and it can be not so good. And none of these outcomes includes the end of the world. You and I might as well have fun doing it.
In a tournament last week, I was met with more discomfort than usual. I made an effort not to fight it, but become friendly with that feeling. Throughout those 18 holes in Florida, most of those conversations in my head ended with a smile, similar to the one shone on the face of the Bob O Link member back in Highland Park, IL.
“I have self-doubt. I have insecurity. I have a fear of failure. I have nights when I show up at the arena and I'm like, 'My back hurts, my feet hurt, my knees hurt. I don't have it. I just want to chill.' We all have self-doubt. You don't deny it, but you also don't capitulate to it. You embrace it.”
Kobe Bryant
As 2025 continues to progress, I look forward to embracing my uneasiness, the self-doubt I feel, the internal pressure that arises; I encourage you to do the same.
I also look forward to embracing the incredible support I receive, the nomad-like lifestyle I am currently living, and the path that is less traveled.
In the end there are really only two options, fight the feelings, or embrace them. This year, I choose the second one.
