Going Rogue

"I don't believe that God put us on earth to be ordinary"

--Lou Holtz--

These are the first words in Sarah Palin's book "Going Rogue".  I LOVE this quote.  I also love the style she writes in.  It feels like you're sitting with your best friend and catching up.  I also love one of her stories and I'm going to share it with you.

  It was in softball that Coach Reid Smith taught me another lesson that served me well for years.  He told one of our rookie outfielders, who was almost as weak a player as I was, to quit jumping around and acting all gleeful when she successfully caught a fly ball.

  "That's what you're supposed to do, girl!" he yelled.  "Quit acting surprised when you do what you're put there to do!"

  Early in my political career, I would remember that lesson.  When things went right under my administration's leadership, sometimes I'd look around and wonder why no one but me was jumping with joy.  Then I'd recall Coach Smith's holler from years ago: "You were put there to do this, so don't act surprised." (And don't look to anyone else to cheer you either.)

What a great story.  I think we are often surprised when we succeed in something, especially if it's something hard.  We can do hard things.  We can do amazing things.  We just need to believe in ourselves.  I'm going to work harder to believe in others and myself.