On June 13, 1968, forty-nine years ago, my mother, sister and I were on the floor of a cabin on West Okoboji in northwestern Iowa when several tornadoes hit at once. The devastation was incredible. The miracle was there were no lives lost. The following days were miraculous for an eleven year old boy who loved mechanical stuff. Mrs. Jones, the lady that ran the resort we were staying on offered me a bow saw and told me to cut up anything that had fallen. And I did ... what fun.
But I'm not really thinking of any of this today. I'm thinking about lost opportunities and the times I have said “No” when I should have said “Yes." This time at the lake was a really good example. After the initial cleanup was done, a lot of people flocked to the lake to help out. One group of people that came were scuba divers. In this group was a man from my hometown. His name was Bob Smith and his son Larry was in my class through high school.
Apparently, one of the tornadoes at the lake had actually become a waterspout, pulling water into the sky and effectively lowering the level of the lake. Immediately after the storm, we went outside and could see things that had been blown into the lake sticking out of the water. Later, when Bob went in to recover these items, he found them under multiple feet of water. This still isn't the important part of this story, but we are on the way there.
One day Bob asked if I wanted to try out scuba. He wasn't talking about a class or anything like that; he was just going to get me “geared” up and take me into the lake. This is something I had always wanted to do, but when presented with the opportunity, right then and there, I said “No thank you.”
What? Why would I do such a thing? Looking back on it now, I have no idea, but I remember being scared - not of being hurt or worse, but being scared I wouldn't be able to do it perfectly the first time. Wow. The funniest thing about it now is that seven years later, Bob was the person who took me through the training and got me scuba certified.
I am listening to a book on tape by Jon Acuff, and he speaks about this exact situation. He talked about being invisible and making mistakes. In that lake, in NW Iowa, if I had made a mistake, it would have been in front of one or two people. I wasn't working on a television special with Jacques Cousteau diving off the Galapagos Islands to be viewed by millions. It was a learning opportunity and a mistake would have been in front of a small group who knew I was just learning this skill.
But with all of this laid out there, this was not the time to learn this lesson. There were multiple more times in which I behaved exactly the same way. Whether it was skating, skateboarding, downhill skiing, waterskiing, it was always the same. I didn't want to make a fool of myself, and I always thought there would be another chance.
Well, sometimes there aren't second chances and the opportunity in front of you will be the only time it presents itself. So, what am I going do with this info? I am going to work to turn to the Jim Carrey movie and become the “Yes Person.” I'm going to work to say yes at least more than I say no. I'm going to work to recognize what things really are don't-miss opportunities. And I am going to do a better job of recognizing when I am invisible. When can I make a mistake or a misstep without the whole world watching?
You have been a big part of this over the last couple of years for me. You've been part of an audience that reads the words I put out there, and when I make mistakes, you just understand them and we move on. When I run into many of you face to face, you are supportive and encouraging of the things that I talk about. I appreciate you and thank you for following me on this journey.
Now, go out there and find a way to do something that you want to and that you have said “No” to in the past. Have a great day.
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