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Hop, Skip, Double and a Dip

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Written by Karen D.  Swim

I watched the little girls draw the crooked squares in colored chalk on the sidewalk. I smiled remembering my own childhood games of hopscotch. Hop, hop, hop. The first round was always easy because you knew what to expect. Hop, hop, hop, land, hop, land hop. You knew just how long you needed to balance on one leg before landing on two feet again.

Life sometimes feels like a game of hopscotch. Sometimes you maneuver a tiny square on one leg and in other places both feet are firmly planted on the ground. Along the way you pick up your marker as you progress from square to square. Unlike hopscotch, the squares are not neatly drawn in brightly colored chalk. You may find yourself balancing longer than is reasonably comfortable on one leg praying to reach the spot when you can put down both feet and steady yourself. Hop, hop, hop, hop, hop, land, hop.

In hopscotch and life  the game grows in complexity as you add more people. No longer jumping from square to square, you also have to jump over the obstacles that others have placed in your path. Hop, jump, jump, hop, hop, land, jump, hop.

As I sat musing, the little girls giggled, ponytails bobbing up and down as they each took turns, hopping, landing, and picking up their marker. Hop, land, hop, bend,  jump, turn to do it again. I watched as the smaller little girl took her turn, eyes on the pattern, with determination in her eyes – hop, hop, hop, jump, hop, bend, stumble. Rather than become discouraged they collapsed into giggles, declared a winner and started a new game, hop, hop, hop, land, hop, land, hop.

I rose from the chair with a smile determined to go and start my own new game, no colored chalk required.

How’s your game these days? Are you jumping on one foot or two? Do you start a new game when you stumble or just go to the end of the line?

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Comments

  1. Joanna, I feel the same way about you! Ha! Normally, I would have joined in but I was tired that day! 😉 Next time, watch out though. I would have had those little ones collapsing in giggles. xoxxo

  2. Robert, lol! Yes, the hopping is a bit more tiring, shucks maybe that’s why we are so serious. lol! I’m all for lightening things up! I think we could all use a bit of fun in our lives. 😉

  3. Lol! Brad, I’m learning (not always easily) to just take my licks in stride and laugh them off. I wonder why we adults are so tough on ourselves? We’re so results oriented and focused on metrics, numbers, success that we kind of suck the fun out of the process. A visit to a playground is a great way to reconnect with the simplicity of life. 🙂

  4. Alina, you are so right! If we could laugh and try again instead of being so hard on ourselves we would have time for many more games. 🙂

  5. Susan, congratulations! I am moving in that same direction so please draw a map along the way. 🙂 It’s funny a few years ago I clearly remember saying “I don’t have any more starts left in me!” I was worn out from change but it turns out I had many more starts than I believed. I hope you’ll keep me posted on your new direction so that I can not only learn from you but support you!

  6. Thanks, Karen. When I play in a tennis match — every now and then, I’ll focus on something — what color is it? What does it say? When we’re playing in a match, sometimes we go in automated mode and need to focus — so asking myself a question helps me retain focus. Much like the chalk outline or else, we’ll step on the cracks and break mothers’ backs!

    Meryl K. Evans´s last blog post..Kids and Books: Taking the Easy Way out

  7. Hi Iain, you hit on something that has really been top of my mind for me recently and that is understanding my own limits. I find that as I *ahem* age I definitely have to work smarter not harder. You can still juggle but you have to choose your objects very carefully. 🙂

  8. Lol! I feel that way too sometimes and it makes me dizzy or some would say ditzy! lol! I love that analogy Meryl! lol!

  11. Some days I feel like hopping from one scotch to another. 🙂 I love your analogy, Karen. It makes so much sense to live life as a child’s game. We take ourselves too seriously sometimes. If only we could approach everything with the simple enthusiasm of children playing hopscotch. Then it wouldn’t matter so much where we end up or how we get there.

    Brad Shorr´s last blog post..Business Blog as Base of Operations for Online Marketing

  13. What a wonderful analogy, Karen!

    For me, this year has been one where I am at the top of the hop scotch course and must turn around and change direction, heading back to the start.

    I had been working as a freelance copywriter, mostly creating websites for a wide variety of clients. Now I am focused on writing some of my own e-books and information products. Same game, just a new direction.