Word of the year

It's about this time of year that a word just starts bobbling around in my head and usually becomes Word of the Year for the next year. 

The word? Intense/intensity. I'm not sure where it leads, I never am. I never thought lthis past years work on Ego would lead me where I'm going next week... 

... More on that later, but here is a picture that could say it all. 

Between the pipes

I put it out there to my hockey gals that I was thinking about trying goalie. I got an underwhelming response. What I was looking for was someone to say "hey, I would love to help you with that, lets meet ..." and it didn't work that way. So I tried a more direct approach "Hey, I am thinking I would like to try goalie, can you help me." It worked.

Last night I put on the extra 85 pounds of gear and tried it. Historically, I believed my hand-eye coordination was not very good. I based this on years of PE softball (swing and a miss), a few tries at racquetball, and some attempts at golf. Last year though, I started thinking maybe I could check my hand-eye coordination by giving goalie a try. Turns out, I was wrong. I tried the goalie thing last night and I was alright. I blocked a TON of pucks, not 100% but hey, it was my first time. And I got better as the night wore on. I even hung around for the intermediate ladies and shagged a few pucks for them too. Much more challenging, but a ton of fun! As usual, my gals were very patient, had many, many kind words and kept encouraging me which kept me going. Will I do it again? Hells to the yeah!

I have had a similar experience - put it out there, wait for someone to respond - with similar results - no one responds - numerous times. I am learning the direct approach, when used properly, really works. I have had two very positive experiences in the past week by being direct. No easy feat for me, but I tried and it worked and I am encouraged.