Grappling with Grapple

It began as an innocent kitchen experiment, a father spending time with his three daughters. We were at juice critical stage, with only smidgens of apple juice and grape juice left. Although relatively new to the juice run, my father knew that at our young ages, equality trumped individuality – we all had to have the same darn type of juice. In a moment of inspiration born of necessity, my father combined the two and produced, with a wave of his magic wand (wooden spoon): Grapple!

An early adopter even at this young age, my eldest sister stepped right up and pronounced grapple to be delicious. My middle sister, more tentative, beamed a surprised smile after the tasting. My father soon had them in fits of giggles, pretending to be a mad scientist concocting secret grapple potions in his laboratory.

When my turn came to sample the magical grapple, I froze.

I wanted to try the juice. I wanted even more to join in the fun. Grapple looked good; heck, it even smelled good. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t bring myself to try even the smallest sip.

Sensing I was close to tears, but not sure why, my father ended the game with the promise of ping pong. My sisters soon forgot all about grapple.

But I didn’t.

Looking back, it seems that all of my childhood fears, shyness and hesitancy are represented by grapple. There were often times when I didn’t participate in a trip, event or party because something held me back. I almost always regretted not going, or trying the new adventure, but even armed with that insight, the same situation tended to play out.

When I got older, gained more confidence, and started to participate more fully, my life was always more enriched. Trips overseas, challenging ropes courses, even new jobs often possessed many hurdles and setbacks, but the gains were almost always worth it.

Now a mother, I see my son confront his own grapple. He so badly wants to play with the older kids in their advanced games but is shy, holding back, uncertain how to proceed. When he does get involved, he talks about these experiences for weeks – clearly they are memorable.

So it’s not just me who has a grapple; my son does too. What is your own personal grapple – what do you want to try or experience? What is stopping you for jumping in? Do you agree that we tend to regret the things that we don’t do rather than the things that we do?

Take a moment to write down what you want to try or experience. Then look at what is holding you back – and knock down those barriers.

Because grapple is delicious.