2️⃣022: fútbol is life ⚽️

You can only move forward in American football

To move backwards is to lose all progress. You even get negative statistics when moving backwards in a certain way. In this game, every single action taken on the field counts. Every single inch means something. Just ask Al Pacino. A single inch can mean the difference between being remembered as a legend, a champion, or a loser who could never come through when it counted most.

You could say life is a lot like football. Where every single inch, every single decision you make, matters. Everything you do must be carefully calculated and properly executed to achieve maximum potency.

I would say that's some bullshit

Although the western world might have you think it is, life isn't as straightforward as simply winning or losing. There's a whole lot of other shit that happens in between when you're neither winning nor losing. And there's a whole lot of other shit that happens when you're both winning and losing. A lot of inches get lost in those times. A lot of inches that don't matter in the grand scheme of things.

If you're down and you think there are only a few things you need to do to get back up, and you think after you do those things everything will click and fall into place, and all the things you longed for and wanted will suddenly be yours. Just because you did that one thing you needed to do. Let me tell you, it doesn’t work like that.

And I'm not telling you this as someone who has life figured out. Trust me. I don't know shit.

I'm telling you this as someone who figured out that life isn't something to be figured out

Because you can get that money, and you can get that promotion, move to that city, or woo that certain someone you've had your eyes on. But even after you get what you've been looking for, you're going to have to go through more shit. And more shit. And more shit. Shit's always going to keep coming. The only difference is eventually you kinda learn a lil bit better how to deal with that shit. Or how to stop some of the shit before it happens. Or to just stop giving a shit about things you can't do shit about.

You'll realize that life isn't just about always moving forward

Sometimes life is about just chilling the fuck out. Maybe you made progress, but you lost a couple of inches. That's fine. You don't need to make up for every single mistake or fuck up you commit. Because you're going to make a lot of them. That's just the way things go.

Sometimes trying to push forward when there's something that's not letting you move isn't the right way to go. Sometimes you need to relax, take a step back, assess the situation and let things play out.

Maybe you take a couple of days of rest. It's okay. Skip a workout. You're not losing any points in the game of life scoreboard.

Maybe you don't go to the bar that one weekend. The same bar you've been to every other weekend for the past four years.

Maybe, just maybe, you skip one of those DJs and all-night parties and you sleep in and lose the bags under your eyes and feel like an actual functioning human for once.

You can do all these things because those things you think you're missing out on will be there when you get back.

Because sometimes, there is no way to move forward.

Sometimes you have the ball at your feet in the middle of the field and three defenders are staring you down.

You could try to outmaneuver them all, and you might end up losing the ball in a dangerous position on the field

You could try maybe running faster than all of them, but odds are at least one will catch up to you

You could try just kicking the ball over them as hard as you can, hoping one of your players gets it, but there’s no guarantee that will happen either

These are all things you could do if you thought the only way to progress was to move directly forward.

Or, you could turn around and pass the ball to one of your defenders, who's completely alone. And then they could pass it to the defender on the other side of the field. You know, the side where that third dude who was defending you was supposed to be. And then that defender could pass it to the midfielder on the other side, who's also not being guarded. And then you could start your attack again.

All you needed to do was find a different way to move forward because there's not only one.

And, if by chance that attack on the other side proves to be unsuccessful, another crazy thing could happen. You'll probably have another opportunity to do it. Because that's the way the game goes. It's not about always moving forward. It's about moving in the first place. Sure, you need to attack to win, but it's also okay to sometimes just look up and figure out what's going on without making any decisions.

Stop rushing yourself so much

Stop being so hard on yourself

Start enjoying the highs when they're high and learning from the lows when you're low

And just because you lost progress doesn't mean you lost everything

That's not the way football works

And fútbol is life