urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:20fourplay The things one's mind comes to on a tennis court... Andy 2004-07-10T06:10:12Z urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:20fourplay:384 2004-07-10T06:10:12Z 2004-07-10T06:10:12Z I know that there's a point to this journal. It something about letting people "get inside my head". I was hesitant to agree to this whole thing because...frankly, inside my head isn't always the coolest place to be. I think of some really strange shit. Believe me. But if I'm supposed to write exactly what I want to, then I guess people will definitely get out of this journal what they're supposed to.<br /><br />So here's the thing that I'm thinking about right now.<br /><br />Today I took the kids outside in the backyard while Arisa was at work. They both love being outside. Especially Clay. He loves bugs and animals and all of that typical little boy stuff. He spent over an hour trying to scoop ants into a bucket that I found in the shed for him and became rather upset when he ended up smashing most of them. I tried to explain that if he didn't like killing the ants, he needed to stop trying to catch them but he didn't seem to understand that. It made me think of the fact that he's so persistent. I don't remember ever being that driven at his age. He never sees anything as too big a challenge to tackle. That makes me so proud. Even if it's something as strange as catching live ants.<br /><br />And then there's Kaiya. She's just about 8 months old now. She's a seasoned crawler, if I do say so myself. She's scoots all over the place on those little hands and knees but she's still having trouble with the whole concept of walking. She grabs onto her mom or the edge of the coffee table and pulls herself up but the moment she goes to toddle away she starts wobbling and falls. Instead of crying she immediately goes back and tries again. She has that same persistence of her brother. I thought maybe my children were just particularly bold and motivated but I started thinking about it a little more and I realized that most children are like that. How come adults aren't so ambitious? <br /><br />I'm not saying there aren't ambitious adults, because there definitely are...but a good 85% of this world's population never tries to move up the ladder. They never strive for any more than they have and they always settle. I think the world could be so much better if people tried harder. Kids are so much smarter than any fully grown man or woman ever will be. I wish I could go back to being 5 years old and know the rest of what I know now. I'd be a genius. I'd know ahead of time where I could go with my life and the things I could accomplish and I'd go for it with an open mind and never let anyone deter me. <br /><br />Do you know how many people laughed at my hopes of going pro before it actually happened? Of course you don't. But I'll tell you that it was a lot. So many times that I almost told myself several times to give it up and spend my time doing something other than playing tennis. If I'd let them discourage me...where would I be?<br /><br />Certainly not where I am.<br /><br />My point is that I think we all need to take lessons from kids. They're brilliant. Especially Clay and Kaiya. I've learned so much from them already.