To defend or not to defend that was the question I asked myself on Wednesday, the 4th of July. Defend what you ask, why my pie eating championship belt of course. For those who don't know I live in a small town with a great traditional 4th of July. Four years ago, the Lions Club, who run the festivities that day, added a pie eating contest. Which I won in my age group.
It was fun, and yes as a foodaholic, it played to my strengths. I won the next two years and last year, even had fun with it by pretending I was the pro wrestler of pie eaters. Then came this year. Did I want to participate again? Frankly my heart was no longer into it, nor my attempts at eating like a normal person were also calling for my non participation, and when the time came to sign up I passed. I disappointed some who had come to see me as some sort of tradition.
What I ultimately realized is that there comes a time when you have to stop doing things, that you don't actually have to do. Kenny Rogers once sang, "you got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em, know when to walk away and know when to run." This for me was knowing when to walk away. It might have been fun, I may even have won, but I didn't have to and my heart really wasn't into it.
Knowing when to walk away is hard. In life we are often faced with choices about ending something, and they aren't always as trivial as a pie eating contest. They can often be much harder, staying in a dead end job, or a horrible relationship. Perhaps not really facing our own realities of behaviors we are engaging in that are killing us spiritually and sometimes even physically.
At the moment I'm not faced with two many cross roads in my life. I hope that when the time comes to make more monumental decisions I can have the grace to know which choice to make.
Blessings,
Ed
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