Facing Life

A champion golf player told a friend that no man should be nervous in a Test Match, provided he was physically fit. Anyway, that was his experience. Nervousness, he said, was the result of introspection, or, in other words, the man was concentrating on his own feelings and not on the game. The perfect performer would forget it was a Test Match, and just deal with every ball on its merits, as if the game were being played on a village green.

It is so in the game of life. No man can be a good performer in the game of life until he learns to conquer fear and nervousness. One way to do this, is to forget yourself and concentrate on the game you are playing. If we would dwell less on our own feelings and focus our attention on what we are trying to do, the disposition to nervousness would disappear. It is disastrous to think too much about ourselves, whether we are playing a game of golf or engaged in some business game.

One who is intent on his job, is not apt to be upset by nervousness arising from self-consciousness. Nor is he likely to be disturbed or frightened by distractions from any other source.

Something else. If you would avoid becoming frightened and nervous in the game of life, you must play the game as it comes, a stroke at a time. As the golf player puts it, just deal with every ball on its merits. Forget the last play, and never mind about the next; aim your stroke for the ball set for the play immediately in hand.

Above all, in this great game of life you need to look to a higher power than your own. In the last resort, this is the only solution to fear. Fear is a natural instinct. It is a groundless and foolish confidence which opposes fear with a mere resolve not to be afraid. The only man who has a solid and abiding confidence, is he who builds his confidence on God. He does not deny fear; but, fixing his gaze on the divine Helper, his fear is transformed into a faith undergirded and supported by the divine strength and wisdom.

More than from any other cause, people are defeated in life by fear and uneasiness. And yet how easily we might all overcome our fears and worries by the exercise of faith and simple common sense.