Trust in the Process

Currently jamming to "Prince Ali" from the movie 'Alladin' and I have no regrets about. Except I like to sing it "Princess Ali". So if there's Disney references here-that's why... Something that came to my attention recently is how eager we get to fix things and we don't always appreciate how to get there. Lucas said the phrase "Trust in the Process" and I liked that. It's so arduous to have faith in the unknown. Religious and otherwise!!

Often when we start learning a new thing, it's ugly. It's so unpolished and foreign. We fight it and want to fall back into what's easy and what we know. It can be struggle some to step outside our comfort zone. My students will hear me say "Get comfortable being uncomfortable". The only way we can grow is to truly challenge ourselves and become better by moving out from what we know. I am always outside of my comfort zone because I was born outside my shell and never had to come out of it!

Sometimes my comfort with myself will stress people out. I have no limits. I have pride and I'm fearless it would seem. But I have to think that's from my life experiences from constantly pushing myself. I've done almost every kind of horse riding from saddleseat to reining and vaulting but also I spent a good potion of time at the racetrack as a jockey. I thrive in tough and sticky places. A bit of pressure never hurt anybody, right? None of those adventures started out pretty or perfect. My first day at the track was terrifying and wild but I learned to love it and was offered a job at Keeneland by the end of my time there. I trusted the process that if I worked hard, it would yield fruit if I was patient. That doesn't mean that my anxiety wasn't at an all time high- I wanted to be good at it like we all do.

Recently, I found myself teaching a few lessons that I remember learning myself. I recall how stupid and pointless they seemed at the time but I was eager to be better and I stuck with it. I groveled and hated it the whole time but before I knew it, suddenly the incredible results showed their lovely selves. My horse came together and we had made such progress! It finally made the discomfort, comfortable I guess. To be on the other side this time teaching it, I could laugh at the person groveling and hating it! I've been there and I get it but I could see the golden nugget we were striving for when they couldn't this time. I could keep encouraging because I knew where the finish line was. I had to tell a couple of people to 'trust me, it works!' 

It's such a delight to be on this side this time around. Although I still have to trust the process, it's much easier being on the knowing side of it. I don't have the doubt. Sometimes it's entirely normal as a coach to have doubt in what you are teaching sometimes as you always want to keep clients happy but a lot of times things aren't always perfect. There's gonna be those tough lessons, the ones you don't want to teach, the horses you want to avoid riding, and the shows that always seem to leave a bad taste in your mouth-but you just have to have a little bit of faith and perseverance that it WILL work out. 

I guess I will have to keep that Lucas guy around since he's full of some nuggets of logical and nonsensical truths. It's funny how we both have some of the same themes in our completely opposite work places. Both jobs require a lot of trust in the process and patience. But I am ahead of him in some ways-at least I KNOW the song 'Prince Ali' from Alladin. What an uneducated savage...