The Pitch

I had been encouraging Justin to find a way to play his own game. I told him not to be intimidated by his team mates who had been playing travel longer than he had. I suggested that he find his own place and make the contribution that only he could make. So why couldn’t I follow my own advice? I grabbed the pen and paper that I kept on my nightstand. I began the SWOT analysis that I had used on my business, only this time applied it to myself. What were my personal strengths? What were my personal weaknesses? How could I use my strengths to build a business? And how could I manage my weaknesses to minimize the threats they posed? I asked myself what the values are for my life and how building a business supported them. It was a very uncomfortable time. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answers to the questions I was posing. My responses could inflict a great deal of change on a woman whose level of comfort with change was quite low. And what about Justin? Hadn’t I brought enough chaos into his world? Wasn’t I the reason that he was struggling with so many things? As the alarm buzzed, I was left with more questions than time to consider them. Resorting to a familiar pattern of coping, I turned the thinking off and mechanically began my day. “You look like crap,” Justin commented as he passed me in the hall. “Feel the same way,” I countered. “A woman your age should get more rest,” he offered. “And a boy your age should know better than to point that out.”