Recently Kobe Bryant died in a tragic helicopter crash. He was 41 years old and his daughter and others were with him. All were lost. Our family is a big basketball family. It is a huge part of our daily lives. You cannot walk into our home without seeing this. From the basketballs all over in every room and bins of them in our back hallway, to pictures of the kids with their teams and metals and trophies in their rooms from thousands of games played. Closets lined with jerseys and our laundry if full of basketball shorts and socks. There is no mistaking it, we are a basketball family. So to say that Kobe Bryant passing away has affected out family is an understatement. He has been a topic of discussion at our dinner table many times over from if he is the best player ever to whose record he will beat. My younger boys would shout his name anytime they thought they were shooting an amazing shot or even when they thought they were just doing something great. He was a part of our family. One of our missionaries mentioned that he gave a lesson at his last district meeting about diligence and confidence, it was called the Mamba Mentality and his examples were all about Kobe. The news came fast about the accident and I think everyone heard about it around the same time, although our family is all spread out on missions and schooling. It was interesting to see the reaction of all my boys as they shared the news with us. One of our boys said that he was so depressed about it. He was so sad and wasn't quit sure how to process it. Yet our youngest son who still lives at home came to me and said, "This is so sad and I have been trying to think what me and my team can do to honor Kobe." Some of his ideas were kinda silly like score only 24 points. It was interesting though because he was not the only one to think that because one of the teams we played last night was running a play that they had named "Kobe". I found it so interesting the different ways my two boys reacted. The Circumstance is the same for both of them. Kobe Bryant died in a Helicopter Crash, but how they took that circumstance and processed it was so different. One said he was sad and depressed about it and the other wanted to do something to honor Kobe. And what do you think their results were? One was sad and depressed and lingered on those feelings and the other felt the need to do something to preserve the great name of Kobe Bryant. Now I am not saying we can't be sad. We should be sad. It's ok to be sad and feel that feeling and know that we are sad. Both boys were sad. But what do we do with those feelings? Do we spin in sadness and feel sorry for ourselves and for everyone else affected? Do we wallow in it? Do we just sit there being sad? Or do we acknowledge our feelings and know that we are sad and then do something with those feelings. Honor those we have lost. Remember the good things about them. Acknowledge their legacy. Honor their lives and the short time they had with us. Honor them with doing better ourselves. Make this world better for those who still walk the earth with us. Nobody likes to feel sad. But be sad and then use that feeling to do something good with it. That is my challenge for you today. Whatever you are feeling, Anxiety, depressed, sad, overwhelmed. Do something good for someone else today. Even if you just smile at someone new in the hallway. Force yourself to do it. You will me amazed at the effect it will have on you and the other person too.
If you know someone who could use my help or my anxiety backpack program you can book a free mini session with me and we can talk about some of the strategies I have that can help with those feelings of anxiety,
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