In baseball, the goal is clear: to make a homerun and arrive home safely. Along the way, the player overcomes obstacles. Other players interfere with his progress, tag him out, while his teammates try to help him achieve the goal.
Sounds a lot like life, doesn’t it? A homerun for ourselves can be viewed as a self-defined goal. It may be to land a coveted job, or to find a mate to marry.
A home run may be a goal that we can accomplish in a day or a week or a month or year or even in a lifetime. these constructs are fluid and defining them is our own creative process. A home run can be as easy as making a commitment to place a difficult phone call or as consuming as getting through graduate school.
And of course, in life, as in baseball, we encounter obstacles and helpmates along the way.
Read on for some other ways baseball reflects life.
Respect the boundaries
Both baseball and daily life are defined by boundaries. Hitting a ball outside the boundaries of the field constitutes a foul ball. In life, we have to learn about the essential nature of boundaries, which, unlike in the game, are invisible.
Perhaps it is the clear demarcation of the field in contrast to everyday life appeals to us since life boundaries are complex and certainly, at times, tedious. Just ask a toddler who grapples with them multiple times every day. “I can touch this, but not that.” The world is confusing, and he gradually learns the rules.
Life is unpredictable
The poet Marianne Moore (1887-1972) was a great fan, intrigued by its physicality and unpredictability of the game that she viewed like writing.
The beginning of one of Moore’s Yankee poems reads:
“Writing is exciting
and baseball is like writing.
You can never tell with either
how it will go
or what you will do;
generating excitement”
Engaged in writing, Moore sees herself as an athlete, experimenting, striving within a strict format, enclosed within a (secular) unity of time.
Faith and patience are required
Moore and her brother were Pauline Christians; there is mystery in sport and in religion and in her poetry, Moore combines them. Much of baseball as well as writing, she seems to say, is about learning to wait in an attitude of faith.
Sometimes you need to take risks
For me, faith also involves taking action: as every baseball player knows and aims to use his best judgment in every move. For example, not so long ago, buying Apple at $30 per share was a risky proposition. But a well-timed investment ended up paying dividends.
The element of risk and the feeling of fear are present in baseball and in life and how we manage these factors to some extent determines our success in scoring homeruns.
Why psychotherapy? To define and navigate around obstacles
Some people begin psychotherapy because they don’t have a goal and need to explore the possibilities. Some have defined their goal or home run but encounter (what they see as insurmountable) obstacles in their path.
Where is the obstacle? Some obstacles lie within the confines of our minds. For example, self-doubt: Can I accomplish what I want, or is this potential job too demanding? This question is grist for the mill of psychological treatment.
Other obstacles lie within the boundaries of the real world. Mr. L., for example, struggles with how to care for an aging mother that interferes with his goal to build his career. Given interference (as if from an opposing team), he learns to accept that his goal involves dealing with this outside interference as efficiently as possible and not allowing it to stymy him. Recognizing the challenge can help him accept the interference and work toward a solution.
Sometimes life can be complicated by the fact that we’re not sure where we want to go. In other words, home plate is not yet in clear sight. Then we can explore the ground around the goal to define what home plate means for us. Going to college, for instance, is one potential route. If earning a living wage is the goal, learning a trade like plumbing may be an acceptable alternative. No matter what, a person must keep their eye on the ball to make sure they continue to aim toward home plate.
Conclusion: Visualizing life as a baseball game lends a sense of playfulness and achievement as well as acceptance of life’s challenges both within ourselves and in our world.
Dear Readers, I look forward to your comments: jsimon145@gmail.com.
