Practice

​I read something on someone’s Facebook site today that I like.  It said something like “you can only fight like you practice.”  I admit I thought that was pretty good.  It was saying something I adhere to, in a different way.
I guess it is all about practice.  I heard of a dark guy who played soccer in South Africa when apartheid was the go.  Other players would go for his legs.  He adapted by learning to jump at the right time.  His method was forced on him, but it stood him in good stead.  He became a world beater.  His technique was what was needed the world over.  What was meant for harm turned out for good.  He played the way he practiced.  No wonder Pele said “everything is practice.”
I am not real good but I have a robot that directs table tennis balls to places I specify.  I would spend time having it feed me into the same spot over and over again.  I would direct returns to different places on the court.  To my level it was to my advantage.  It would always surprise some of the angles I got.  I played like I practiced.
I guess something like that can be extended.  It seems someone was right when they said, “we have all the light we need, we just need to put it in practice.”  Practice is not necessarily fun.  It can be.  Particularly at the start.  But generally, it becomes work.  Day in and day out.  Working on something and getting it right.
It seems to achieve anything worthwhile requires conscience practice.  Unworthwhile things are often achieved by default.  No wonder it was said anything left to itself tends to decay.  If I want to do something good, it is easier if I have practiced.  The golfer Arnold Palmer said the more I practice, the luckier I am.
Starting something is the hardest.  But that is not to say it does not get hard down the track.  It is no wonder runners talk of getting their second wind.  Before that it can seem all too hard.  The only thing that really keeps me going is the wanting of something.  I deem it worth the effort.  For sure to give up would be easy.    To return to my status que is safe.  But it can also be a place of longing.  The old “what could have been.”
Never once have I felt good about giving up on a worthwhile dream.  Giving up may be comfortable in the short term, but the “what could have been” is never worth it.  More and more I am finding that persistence is a necessary requirement.  A dream alone is not enough.  The dream needs to become a reality.  The only way I know of that that can happen is to stick with it and practice, practice, practice.