Putting yourself out there

My 14yo tried out for Mr. Freshman yesterday. I've never seen him nervous before. He talks in church without a problem, never stresses before lacrosse games or even tryouts. But playing a toaster (yes, that was his talent) in front of his student council kept him up most of the night (there are some really cute girls on student council).

He felt good about his performance, and we'll see tomorrow what the results are. I was extremely proud of him for being brave enough to try. Isn't life about just putting yourself out there, trying your best, and hoping for a good outcome?

One day I complained to my husband because someone left a unflattering review on Amazon. Instead of buying me chocolate (I know, you'd think I had him trained better) he said, "You put yourself out there and sometimes people aren't going to be nice." And isn't that life too? We always hope everyone (especially ourselves and our children) will be nice, but sometimes it doesn't happen and sometimes we don't have the outcome we hoped for. But what would life be if we didn't keep trying?

So here's the advice I gave to my boy this morning: Keep playing that toaster and smiling no matter what happens. And you know what? He did.