What is your handicap?

In golf, the term handicap means the number of strokes you need to add to par to effectively equal out the playing field. Say that you normally shoot a 90 and you are playing with a scratch golfer that usually shoots a 72. Your handicap would be 18. That means that you can play with a much better golfer and be able to compete on score. So if the scratch golfer shoots a 74 and you shoot an 89, you would win the round of golf because after you added your 18 stroke handicap to the scratch golfer’s round of 74, that would equal 92. Assuming you shot an 89, you would win by 3 strokes. Complicated right? Well, that is golf.

In life, we all know what a visible or mental handicap looks like. The handicaps you cannot see are the ones hidden on the inside like fear, anxiety, intimidation, etc. These are just as much a handicap as an outward one. In some respect, the inward handicaps are almost as hard to overcome as the ones that present themselves in outward appearance.

Last night, I was watching the Barrett Jackson auto auction, which by the way, is the best show ever invented for guys. My lovely wife comes home and she wants to watch Dancing with the Stars, which is the best show ever invented for ladies. Because I love my wife, I was watching (and playing with the dog) Dancing with the Stars and they began to talk about this young man named Nyle DiMarco. He is a very accomplished and successful model, actor and activist. He actually reminds me of myself. . . Just kidding! Many believe he will win this season of Dancing with the Stars. The thing about Nyle is he is deaf and speaks through a sign language interpreter. His parents, grandparents and sibling are all deaf. What an amazing young man.

When you think about dancing you think about music and the beat of the sounds. He cannot hear any of this, yet he is perfectly on beat with his dancing, and it is amazing to watch him. He is so fluid, confident, smooth and accomplished in his movements. He literally brings the crowd to tears each time he dances. I suspect one of the reasons is because many people in the crowd (and maybe reading this blog) have let inward handicaps like fear and intimidation hold them back in life and they are witness to someone dancing who refused to be held back because of his handicaps.

The first and biggest decision we all have to make regarding handicaps, and yes, we all have them, is the decision to not let them hold us back in the show of life. KT

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