The Perspective

Early Friday morning, I dragged myself out of bed to do a coaching session.  While I’ve drastically cut down on my coaching hours in the last year, when I do sessions they always seem to revitalize my interest in the game.  Each hand is like a puzzle to me and once I “solve” a few tough spots, I’m eager to start the grind.  So as soon as we finished up, I jumped in the shower, got dressed, and hurried back to my computer.  I was ready to fire up some tables!

Unfortunately, the internet was out.  My initial thought was, “Man I run so bad.”  Not much I could do, except wait.  I decided to be productive with my newly found free time and go exercise.  Walked down 5th Avenue, the main tourist street in Playa, and waved off all of the business owners trying to sell me various trinkets.

A few minutes later I stepped foot in the gym, put in my headphones in, and had a great workout.  I had hoped the internet would be fixed by the time I got home, but no dice, so I spent the next two hours laying by the pool and soaking in the hot tub.

I know that’s not incredibly an exciting day, but stay with me for a second.  Perspective is an incredible thing.

Early Friday morning, I dragged myself out of bed to do a coaching session.  

Well, it actually wasn’t that early.  Maybe it felt early because I almost never wake up via an alarm clock.  The session started at 10 AM and I woke up around 9:30.  Most people have to get ready  much earlier than that.  And I didn’t even have to get dressed, brush my teeth, or look anything close to presentable.

Unfortunately, the internet was out.  

I obviously need the internet, so if it didn’t work, I couldn’t work.  That simple.  It’s definitely frustrating to want to put in hours and not be able to, but I’m rather lucky to have that option of not working.  I could take the entire day off and nobody would be up my ass about it.  It’s a luxury that most people don’t have.

Walked down 5th Avenue, the main tourist street in Playa, and waved off all of the business owners trying to sell me their various trinkets. 

These guys?  They don’t have that luxury I was talking about.  They can’t take a day off.  They’re out in the hot sun, each and every day, desperately trying (and often failing) to convince tourists to purchase jewelry, t-shirts, travel arrangements, etc.

From one perspective, I had a difficult morning.  Woke up too early, internet didn’t work, and I couldn’t do my job.  Annoying, right?  But if I look at it another way, after waking up at a decent hour, I proceeded to do things I enjoy: coach, lift weights, lay in the sun, and sit in the hot tub.  Doesn’t sound too bad, huh?  And imagine how much worse my day would have been if the internet crapped out on me after I started playing poker instead of before?  Or if it had disconnected during the coaching session?  God that would have been terrible.  Instead, it went out at the absolute perfect time to cause me the least amount of stress possible.  That’s definitely not run-bad.

My point is that there are going to be things in life that are definitely good and other things that are undeniably terrible.  Can’t avoid it.  However, there’s a lot of stuff in between.  And whether that stuff is deemed good or bad depends entirely on your perspective.  No one likes to be inconvenienced, but perhaps that slight inconvenience affords some grand opportunity.  In my case, extenuating circumstances forced me into having an incredible day, one I certainly wouldn’t have experienced if everything had gone according to plan.