I Wish I Was Like Him

“In the end, you need only three bones to be successful:

a wish bone, a back bone, and a funny bone.”

– Gilbert Enoka, Mental Skills Coach, All-Blacks Rugby Team (Taken from a talk on ‘Moral Anatomy’ by Dr. Kavanagh)

I remember thinking ‘I wish I was like him’.

The ‘him’ in question was a successful entrepreneur who seemed to have it all.

We had met while doing a show with a local drama group and I was always impressed by his positive attitude and great sense of humour. He never had a bad word to say about anyone and he was always – and I mean always – the life of the party.

This was almost 20 years ago and I was going through a period of severe depression.

Just as quickly my mind threw in ‘Yeah, but he has a great life – it’s easy for him to be in a good mood’ and that was my way of excusing my own lack of mental discipline.

Then I learned something that changed my view completely.

His wife had been in an accident several years previous and lay in a coma in a hospital, unlikely to ever recover.

He was left in uncertainty and had three kids to look after.

I remember asking him about it and how he could stay in such good humour, despite such adversity.

“Life can be tough,” he said. “Very tough. But I’ve found that if I accept reality and remind myself to laugh at it and myself often, I can make the best of it.”

That conversation had a profound impact on me and made me up my own ‘inner game’.

And I’ve found what he said to be true.

Our funny bone is there for a reason.

Where can you use it this week?

Shane