What’s the best way to start a video?
A nice backdrop. A little music. And, of course, a cliché to set the scene.
“The only constant in life is change.”
That sets the stage. But jokes aside, change can be scary. It can be stressful. And sometimes the hardest changes are not the big, dramatic, life-altering ones.
Sometimes they are the small, personal ones that force us to admit something uncomfortable about ourselves.
For me, today, that change is golf.
Not work. Not family. Nothing too serious in the grand scheme of things.
But to me? Somehow, still oddly stressful.
You might have assumed that I’d be a decent golfer.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Golf has been my nemesis.
For the last 20 years, I’ve been much more comfortable in the endurance world. Running all over the city. Cycling in the basement for hours. Or, swimming in lakes whenever I get the chance.
That world made sense to me.
But lately, something has changed.
My passion for endurance sports has started to fade a little. Maybe it was COVID. Maybe it was shifting motivation. Maybe it is just that natural feeling of, “Been there. Done that.”
I still enjoy the training and I still love being active.
But it is no longer my north star.
At the same time, I’ve watched more and more longtime friends start playing golf. They play one-off rounds. They take the occasional trip.
Years ago, I used to be on those email invites.
But after enough “no thank you” replies from me, they naturally stopped asking.
And now?
I want back on the list.
The truth is, I used to tell myself I didn’t like golf because I had other passions.
And that was partly true.
But maybe the bigger truth is that I didn’t like golf because I wasn’t very good at it.
That is a tougher thing to admit.
Because it means this is not really about golf.
It is about ego.
It is about being willing to be bad at something again while everyone around you has been quietly improving for years.
And if I want to stay active, keep learning, and remain social over the next few decades, I probably need to do this.
I’m having a little fun with this, but I think there is a bigger point here.
Sometimes we need to get out of our own way in the present so we can become someone better for the future.
I’m going to give this a shot and get myself back on the list.
Bryan Deviney is a Senior Financial Advisor with CI Assante Wealth Management Ltd. The opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of CI Assante Wealth Management Ltd. Please contact him at 416.216.6500 or visit www.bryandeviney.com to discuss your particular circumstances prior to acting on the information above. CI Assante Wealth Management Ltd. is a Member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund and the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization.
