The Art of Baseball: Having Faith in Yourself © by Kathy SimcoxIt all started with click of a mouse button and a credit card number. The next thing I knew I was sitting in a Broadway theatre in mid-town Manhattan watching my first play and having time of my life. As my eyes feasted on this spectacle, I wondered to myself, how could I do that, too?
Now, as I stand on an empty stage in my own hometown some three years later, anticipating week’s closing performance, I can’t help but smile. In my mind’s eye I can still see that frightened young woman driving white-knuckled and wide-eyed as her car carried her on a new adventure. During trip I kept asking myself, why am I doing this? What purpose could traveling alone, 600 miles to a city of millions of people possibly mean in grand poobah of universe? Has my mind finally left world of sane? What will I find? Let me tell you what I found.
I discovered my heart was a treasure chest overflowing with dreams, dreams I never even knew were there. I found possibilities impatiently aching to be realized; they seemed to be shouting, “It’s about time you finally showed up. Now let us out of here!” My state of mind before trip would have pushed away those dreams, forever ignored by fear. Now, after this wonderful adventure, I found myself straining to hear more of those voices, pushing me toward new adventures and new dreams. No longer would my mind dwell on voices of fear. Instead, in would ponder those voices of possibilities and attack them with a clear mind.
In this realm lies beauty of art. It can be any style of art. Art, to me, is simply creating expression of one’s soul and sharing that expression with world. You don’t have to be a tremendously talented person to express yourself successfully. To be truly successful at something, I believe one has to be at least willing to try, regardless of outcome. A failure is not one who sees possibilities, grabs them, does his/her best with them and doesn’t reach desired outcome. Indeed, a failure is someone who sees possibilities, even recognizes hidden opportunities, but does nothing with them because of fear. Fear paralyzes mind and eventually will conquer heart. The desire, even ability to open oneself to beauty of art, to self-express, will be forgotten.