comeback

today i played my third tennis match of the season. i won. in three sets. (which means i lost the first one, in case you're as tennis illiterate as i was two years ago.)

at some point in the first set i noticed that my mind was already doing the calculations on my division rating assuming a loss. i was even crafting a facebook status despairing the match. in the first set. and when i realized where my head was, that i'd already mentally thrown in the towel, i had a come-to-jesus moment with myself. the score was 1-5 at that point. i managed to win the next two games to bring the first set to a 3-6 close.

when i walked to the baseline to serve for the first game of the second set i said to myself, 'so now you're going to have to play three sets.' and after my opponent won the first two games of the second set, i told myself to focus only on 'play your best tennis for this point, just this one,' before each point.

and when i won the next three games in a row i suddenly had a vision of my last match. why it hadn't popped into my consciousness before that is beyond me. in that particular match, i'd quickly won the first set, but then found myself in the second set down 1-5. and came back to win 7-6. five games in a row. and a tie break.

i'm the comeback kid! i repeated this affirmation to myself for the remaining dozen or so games and indeed it was true.

it's been a month since i've written creatively. in consideration of the month i've had, i've been disappointed that my writing hasn't flourished. i've accessed some things in myself that have been long out of reach - perhaps always out of reach. and yet, the one thing i most want more of, i haven't been able to access at all.

there have been many other lulls in my writing... but usually those times are wall to wall with ideas and not enough focus or time to put them onto paper. and this was the opposite. desire and focus and time..and no ideas. it's been boggling to me.

tonight on our way home from todd's taekwondo classes in snellville, i was racking my brain for any creative buds. wishing i had something, anything at all even, to inspire me. and here i landed.

i'm a comeback kid.

not particularly inspired, but somewhat reassured. i may be down a handful of games, but i know i'll comeback. consider this your warning, or perhaps the literary equivalent of a save-the-date, my creative comeback is at hand. and i hope you will too.

d: continued comeback victories
b: i can comeback from significant deficits
g: the hint of inspiration comingback