Pivot
I hear the word used with more frequency these days. As a noun pivot refers to the point, or axis, around which something turns or oscillates. As a verb it is describing the reality of what is happening to the person or thing that is turning on that axis.
A quick story of a pivot that occurred in my life.
Twenty five years ago I was a (late) thirty-something year-old fella. I enjoyed the love of a wonderful wife and the joy of being the father to four great kiddos. Our home was paid off, our savings and investments strong. A committed man of faith who served and sowed generously into meaningful work, a committed team member in my workplace and someone who ‘led by example’. By all external accounts things seemed peachy.
They were not.
I was lost. I was depressed. I drank - most always alone. I had no idea why.
One hot August day, while my wife and kids were visiting family in Arizona, I got up and decided to do something healthy. I would go for a run. In fact I decided I was going to punish myself with a two hour run on that hot day. You should probably know this detail - I was not a runner. I am 6’ tall, I weighed (then) 256lbs and owned a total of zero pairs of running shoes. No matter - I put on the high top sneakers I had, a tee-shirt with two long-sleeve cotton sweatshirts over them, a pair of cotton full length sweat pants and drove myself down to the Burke Gilman trail.
I made it 8 minutes and had to stop running. So I walked until I could run a bit more. I did that till I was an hour out, then turned around. Two hours. Punishing indeed.
I got back to my truck and climbed in, soaking wet. I took my sweatshirts off and looked at the blood soaked tee shirt stuck to my sweaty body. My nipples stung. Lovely!
Well I walked-ran every day for the next 150+ days. 30 days in I was able to run 6.2 miles, “competing” in the Moss Day 10k run. 80 days in, I woke up the day after Thanksgiving, drove to Seattle, and ran the Seattle ½ marathon. 150 days in I ran the Vancouver BC marathon. I never took a day off. I learned what to wear and obsessed over how to get my run in every day.
I thought I had pivoted. I had lost almost 60lbs. But I was wrong - the pivot didn’t hold.
The first pivot happened around the axis of depression and unhealth. I hated being fat and “down” and made a change - but the thing(s) I hated were central to why I was running. I was simply running away from those things - yet they remained the axis of why I did it.
Running away from something is not the same as running towards something. (that’ll preach right there!)
Then the true pivot came. It came during the marathon.
May 5th, Vancouver BC. It was a beautiful day, not too hot. I showed up at the start and ran strong with thousands of others. Somewhere in Stanley Park there was a band playing and signage indicating that it was the half-way point. I’d run a strong pace (for me) and thought I would surely beat my 4-hour goal. Perhaps, I thought as I ran, I might be under 3:30.
Enter the Pivot
Somewhere, around mile 20, as we ran northward up and through a lovely neighborhood, I’d had enough. I don’t know if I hit “the wall”. I think the wall just fell on me. I started walking for the first time since the race had begun. I just couldn’t keep running. I was teary but didn’t care. I walked along that damn street exhausted, alone and watched as others passed me by.
PIVOT
I walked along the edges while hundreds of homeowners lined both sides of the street, cheering on the wave of runners, kids straining their arms and hands out competing for who could get the most hand-slaps from participants, I plodded along with my head hung low.
Then it happened. A hand touched me on the back. “Keep going - you’re gonna make it - you’re doing great” she said, and kept jogging on past me. I looked up, seeing only the back of her now. She had sweaty, short, brown hair. She didn’t run fast, she jogged steadily.
What?! What did she say?
That was it. That was the PIVOT. She took the time, amidst the race, to touch me and tell me to keep going, that I would make it, that I was doing great.
I’m telling you, friend, it was SO powerful. It was like being transported up out of a slimy ditch, flowing with cow-pasture water flowing down it and being plopped right back down on the road where I had traction, dry feet and could see the sunshine again. I still had 6 miles to go but I wasn’t in the crappy, edgy ditch all of a sudden.
Her, touching me and encouraging me, lifted me out.
I tried to catch her. I wanted to thank her. I never found her. “She touched me” I kept whispering to myself. I could still feel her hand and life touching my life, her words echoing in my mind the whole rest of the event.
I finished the race in 4:06 hrs. I slapped every single kid's hand I could during the last 6 miles. I patted every shoulder of every walking competitor I saw and said exactly what she had said to me. Keep going - you’re gonna make it - you’re doing great!” I crossed the finish line and met my lovely wife. She hugged and kissed me. She beamed at me with a huge smile…”your nipples are bleeding”...and hugged and kissed me again.
The pivot was, and still is, the life-altering moment when a life touches another life and causes it to move forward in a most powerfully positive way. The Pivot was her willingness to encourage me, to risk reaching out and touching me on the back and shoulder, to say what she said. My life pivoted on the axis of her willingness and generosity to encourage me, a fellow runner albeit a complete stranger.
I changed that day. I pivoted around why I even ran. That day I changed and began to run, to live, to work so as to be with others and encourage them, that the effort IS worth it, that the investment and sweat is not vain or ambiguous or empty.
Which brings me to a challenging question - where do you need to pivot right now? Going a layer deeper - what’s your plan to do it?
Let me clarify, as I touch you on the shoulder and remind you to keep going - you’re gonna make it - you’re doing great, to be very mindful of the pivot point you’re looking for. The pivot point must be a principled one. It must always work for you. It must be 100% true and reliable, even if turning on that pivot point hurts like the dickens.
Resist the temptation to pivot on something that might work. We’re not looking for “might work”. If, for example, you’re thinking you might start running marathons to do something healthy for a change instead of sanding the edges off each day with a few beers…that’s a might work strategy (I promise). I needed clarity around why I started running (away…and sanded the edges off with a two-beer-buzz) AND I needed to find the better “run-towards” vision that became so life giving to me - to be with others, to encourage and enjoy the training and camaraderie that this life was created to be.
We all need to learn to think in new and more perfect ways here. This is one of the most profound promises of God - who will guide us in, and on, this very truth journey. And this is the commission on our life work - to go and help others accordingly. To learn to live well we must learn to think in new and more perfect ways. It requires that we admit - my way ain’t cutting it. That, friend, is the first step in humility. And God helps humble people, not proud ones.
I’m sharing a personal experience with running to really feature the promise that the pivot point we need is available. There are folks around that will help us see what we need to see so that we can begin to move forward in the directions we need to move to live the life that we were created to live.
We are on this journey together. Keep going. You’re gonna make it. You’re doing great!
High-Five some folks (especially kids) today!
For today - Pivot around the love that undergirds true encouragement today. You’ll never be more satisfied!
Peace~
Craig
If you would like to talk - if you need to talk - shoot me an email. I would be happy to chat and even journey together for a while. (If you’re wondering “hmmm…I dunno…should I shoot him a note” - the answer is yes. I think it will be pivotal for you to do just that. If not me - call the person you know you need to call.)
