I recently came upon this poem by James Broughton,

This is it, this is really it, this is all there is, and its perfect as it is. There’s nowhere to go by here. There’s nothing here but now, there’s nothing now but this. And this is it. This is REALLY it. This is all there is and it’s perfect as it is…and it started me to think about how often I hear people who worry about things they can’t control, things that in the big scheme of things don’t really matter.This is especially true for the parents of the 12 and under girls’ softball teams they seem to worry about everything they can think of. Even things that have no bearing on their kids play or play time. For example they worry about what other parents are saying, whether or not those parents are happy and if they plan to stay or leave the team. It’s interesting because the whole time they worry more than the person who is doing all the complaining.

My advice to these parents is the same advice I give to my life coaching clients, family and friends.  What if this is it, I mean really it and it was not perfect but at a minimum pretty good? But because of all your worrying you didn’t realize how well it really was until it moved on?  This is how it is for parents of 12 and under softball players even if they don’t realize it now.  The games, wins and losses, and I would argue even the play time are not things that young kids worry about or stress over.  No, it is the parent who creates the level of stress or comfort that the kid will experience and ultimately take with them through adolescence and adulthood.  Over my 20 years of coaching at all levels I have been able to see it play out in kids and their families at 12 years of age and at 20 years of age and what I realize is THIS IS IT so enjoy it!