Calamity Jane

[Catfish]

Thanks for that informative comment Derrick....

Further proof of the difference between the sexes.

OK, what's your point here?

And Jane, just trying to keep things in perspective.

[HoMiE]

Edited January 25, 2008 by HoMiE

[carinab]

This book explains it all. Read it and every argument you've ever had with the opposite sex may finally make sense.

[Calamity Jane]

The soul searching continues......

Dealing With The Inner Child

One of my favorite places to go in the summer is an amusement park called Holiday World. We've made an annual pilgrimage to Holiday World for probably the last 10 summers. This morning I was remembering Bryan's first ride on the log flume. He was 5 years old and it was his first big ride ever. All the way through the line I asked, "Are you sure you want to go on this ride?" He always said, "Yes" he wanted to go. When our turn to get into the log finally arrived, I instructed Bryan to get into the log and he said "No, I don't want to go." So I did what any reasonable mother would do. I embraced him with my loving arms and physically put him into the log flume. To which he began to scream, cry and fight as he tried to get out of the boat. I merely smiled at the Holiday World staff and said, "He'll be fine." while holding him tightly with my arms so he could not escape. He continued to freak out while we went through a dark tunnel. We then came back into the light and he started to settle down a little. We re-arranged ourselves in the log and I put him behind me instead of in front of me. With my body protecting his, he relaxed and inevitably enjoyed the ride. I knew as his mother he needed to face his fear or he would be crippled by it. And he told me repeatedly….he really did want to go on the ride. Sometimes we need a little help to face the things that scare us.

I've got an inner child in me and she gets scared and has tantrums much like my son before his big log ride. I couldn't help think this morning that I treat my inner child much like I did Bryan. I've got her in a head lock and we’re going on the ride no matter how much she protests! There are battles that must be won within and I refuse to give in to fear.

[XRe]

I've got her in a head lock and we're going on the ride no matter how much she protests!

In my head, I'm imagining this looks a little like the "real" version of The Narrator fighting Tyler Durden...

[j1b]

The only thing to fear is fear itself. No need to tell anyone who said that.

The truth of it all is eery sometimes.

Sometimes the fear is not being able to "pull it off" or "rise to the challenge."

The only question is how we shoot the match. And it's fear that prohibits us from being able to shoot it the way we can. Yet that fear doesn't delay what will happen. The match will end. The results will be precisely what we allow them to be.

And perhaps the challenge isn't to not fear. It's to simply understand you're afraid yet also know the fear can't be allowed to change the results.

Keep that headlock tight.

J

Edited January 26, 2008 by j1b

[Calamity Jane]

Ronin's Drill

Shot Ronin's Drill today for the first time. WAY COOL! I see the value of this drill. It has a lot of things going for it. I think I will incorporate parts (strings) into each practice session. I'm also considering dry firing some of the strings. Liked it...don't know why I put off doing it for so long.

The first string at 50 yards really hurt me in score and the last string also hurt me in score related to a mag release problem I was having with my gun. Other than that...I was hanging in there with 90% or greater of the points...Ok...well...string 5 kind of got to me too. My total score this time was 515. Next time I shoot it I would like to get a 580. That might be a little aggressive but I don't think so. I've got a feel for the par times now and I now know where the gun shoots at 50. Oh yeah...today I was shooting my son's 40 cal open gun. Haven't really shot it before so there was kind of a learning curve going on.

I wanted to also shoot Madness and Baseball standards today but the sun set on us and we didn't get to it. Hoping for good weather this week so maybe I can get some more range time in.

Good stuff today. More data recorded. New goal set. It's all good.

[Catfish]

The best thing I like about this drill is how it teaches you the different levels of focus needed on the sight depending on the distance from the target.

Try to take a 7 yard focus at 50 yards and you're hosed.

Try to take a 50 yard focus at 7 yards and you don't make the time....

[Calamity Jane]

The best thing I like about this drill is how it teaches you the different levels of focus needed on the sight depending on the distance from the target.

Try to take a 7 yard focus at 50 yards and you're hosed.

Try to take a 50 yard focus at 7 yards and you don't make the time....

You know what I love most about 50 yard shooting. The beauty of the trigger pull and sight alignment. It's so pure.

[Calamity Jane]

Just did a workout that was kind of interesting for me. I pulled the agility ladder out for the first time. I love it. It reminds me of my track and field days.

Nordic track ski sprint (5 min)

10 Burpees

10 x's through the agility ladder

Nordic track ski 5 min

25 sit ups

25 push ups

10 plyometric jumps

10 x's through the agility ladder

(ran out of time for another ski)

25 push ups

25 sit ups

Hope the agility ladder doesn't turn into the disability ladder

[BobE]

Just did a workout that was kind of interesting for me. I pulled the agility ladder out for the first time. I love it. It reminds me of my track and field days.

Nordic track ski sprint (5 min)

10 Burpees

10 x's through the agility ladder

Nordic track ski 5 min

25 sit ups

25 push ups

10 plyometric jumps

10 x's through the agility ladder

(ran out of time for another ski)

25 push ups

25 sit ups

Hope the agility ladder doesn't turn into the disability ladder

Damn I had to set down to read all that.

Edited January 29, 2008 by BobE

[Calamity Jane]

Learning How To Shine With Grace

One of the things I have struggled with for many years is how to handle those moments in my life when I shine. I NEVER know exactly what to say. I usually say, “Thank you” and smile. Perhaps my response is appropriate but I always walk away feeling like I wasn’t gracious enough. Today was a perfect example. I was brilliant at work today. I had the CEO of our hospital and the Director of Nursing shaking my hand and slapping me on the back telling me what a great job I did. What did I simply say…thank you and smiled. As I was thinking about this on the way home and beating myself up mentally for not responding better, it finally dawned on me how to handle these moments in my life when I shine. The answer is to be the moon.

The moon reflects light from the sun. When I shine I need to reflect that light on others or I need to acknowledge the source in which my light came. It’s so simple. Today I should have said, “I’m so grateful for this opportunity to help this team accomplish their goals.” OR “It was such a pleasure to work with such a devoted and passionate team.” OR “Each of us had an important part in this presentation.” Why couldn't I have thought of this sooner!!!

So lessons I learned today….when you win, shine, succeed etc…..always respond like the moon….reflect the glory.

Edited February 2, 2008 by Calamity Jane

[Calamity Jane]

DRY FIRE UPDATE

Just got back from the basement dry fire range. Made some significant progress I wanted to report. I was doing my par time for the El Prez at 6 seconds. Tonight I was getting 4.8 pretty comfortable. Don't know why, but things were just snappier tonight. Me thinks I'm making some progress.

The weather is looking promising for the weekend. Plan to get some live fire time in this weekend

[SA Friday]

DRY FIRE UPDATE

Just got back from the basement dry fire range. Made some significant progress I wanted to report. I was doing my par time for the El Prez at 6 seconds. Tonight I was getting 4.8 pretty comfortable. Don't know why, but things were just snappier tonight. Me thinks I'm making some progress.

The weather is looking promising for the weekend. Plan to get some live fire time in this weekend

4.8 sec el prez no points down = 100% on that classifier...

[Calamity Jane]

DRY FIRE UPDATE

Just got back from the basement dry fire range. Made some significant progress I wanted to report. I was doing my par time for the El Prez at 6 seconds. Tonight I was getting 4.8 pretty comfortable. Don't know why, but things were just snappier tonight. Me thinks I'm making some progress.

The weather is looking promising for the weekend. Plan to get some live fire time in this weekend

4.8 sec el prez no points down = 100% on that classifier...

Thanks for the encouragement...but please remember this is DRY FIRE!!!

I've got a 5.52 with 56 points documented when I did my time trial on 1/6/08. Think I might shoot a few of these this weekend and see where I'm at a month later.

[XRe]

In both respects, very good stuff, Jane!

[Calamity Jane]

Things did not go well at the range today. I'm oozing negativity. I'm sure a soul searching post on this subject is soon to follow.

[Calamity Jane]

As I predicted.....

Build Me Up

I like to play with play dough. I had no problem playing with my kids when they had the play dough out. I enjoyed shaping the soft dough in my hands. There really are two ways to create something out of play dough. One is to take some play dough and keep building it up and adding to it until it becomes what you want, and the other way is to take it and tear away at the dough until it is the shape you want. The concept of building up and tearing down is easily taught with a ball of play dough.

I was thinking about this today and wishing I could shape my life like I do play dough. I wish I could be positive all the time and just keep building myself up until I am what I want to be. But instead I find myself tearing myself down. For example, this morning I weighed myself and lost ¼ of a pound. This is what I said to myself, “You don’t deserve that ¼ of a pound.” I did not eat as I normally do last week and was concerned about a possible weight gain. So what I SHOULD have said was…Good job Jane! You controlled that well. Keep up the good work. This week will be even better because you don’t have those meetings.

Being positive, building up, is not my natural bend. This must change. It’s time to figure out a strategy for being positive ALL the time. It’s going to be hard. I’m going to fail, but I must start down this path. Simply knowing I need to change is not good enough anymore. I must start choosing to change. I must look for opportunities to be positive and then exercise them. When I fail, I need to self correct.

Here’s my first shot at it. I had a horrible day at the range. It’s over. I’m going to forget about it. I’m not going to talk about it. Not focusing on the negative is a step towards being positive.

To be a winner... I know I need to create a positive self image and I need to BE positive.

Edited February 3, 2008 by Calamity Jane

[Coach]

Every practice session is not going to be great or even good. You aim for that but it ain't reality. You suck it up and go back out there tomorrow and do better. When you fall down you just simply get back up. One practice does not define who you are, good or bad.

5 days wow!

[carinab]

Being positive, building up, is not my natural bend. This must change. It’s time to figure out a strategy for being positive ALL the time.

Here’s my first shot at it. I had a horrible day at the range. It’s over. I’m going to forget about it. I’m not going to talk about it. Not focusing on the negative is a step towards being positive.

You can't be positive all the time. It's not authentic to screw a smile on when you're fit to be tied. Sometimes the emotions are tied to our physical being (especially we women). Cut yourself some slack if it's a hormone thing. But one thing is certain, emotions are temporary, just like thoughts. What I try to do is experience it fully and then let it go. I once made a major bozo on a stage at nationals. I was furious with myself for making such a beginner's mistake. I went back to my bag. I looked at my watch and decided I was allowed to be really ticked for 1 minute - no more than that. Otherwise your mind drifts back and forth, like a ghost ship floating on a sea of "I should have" to "Why can't I?" with a side trip to "I'm no good" if you're not careful. Use positive self talk to replace the bad. That can be hard if you have ambivalence issues (the ability to experience two opposite emotions at the same time)...but it can be done. Figure out why you want to beat yourself up. Is the negative statement in your head accurate or rational? If not, find a positive statement that is accurate and rational.

It would surely happen at team practice that a negative mood would grab one of us. I can still hear my coach saying, "A shot isn't good or bad, it just is. You may feel like crap, you might be tired, you might be really good and pissed off. It doesn't matter, just see what you can do right now with what you got. Stop expecting."

Not focusing on the negative is good. Not reinforcing bad performance is good too (some people just stop when things aren't going right). But sometimes you have to work through the negativity to make it out to the other side. The pressures of a high stake match can bring it out so you may as well find a strategy to deal with it. Look at the negativity as temporary. That way it won't affect your self image because you just feel that way right now and right now is always changing.

Edited February 3, 2008 by carinab

[Calamity Jane]

Not focusing on the negative is good. Not reinforcing bad performance is good too (some people just stop when things aren't going right). But sometimes you have to work through the negativity to make it out to the other side. The pressures of a high stake match can bring it out so you may as well find a strategy to deal with it. Look at the negativity as temporary. That way it won't affect your self image because you just feel that way right now and right now is always changing.

Right on sister! Thanks for the good advice.

I was thinking on my way home what I was going to do about this situation. Wishing, wanting, hoping to be positive isn't going to make it happen. I need an action plan. So here is what I came up with. It's sort of Lanny stuff with a twist. I'm going to journal each night and record positive thoughts. I'll think about the negative things through out the day and then re-write those negative thoughts positively. Right now it is difficult for me to naturally think of the positive when I'm feeling negative. The more I practice....by journaling...the easier it should become to think that way I'll probably put in some sort of Lanny self affirmation statement in my journal each night also. The twist is...it's not all about shooting. It's about ALL negative thoughts and the self affirmation statement will probably be more about who I want to be as person rather than about who I am as a shooter.

Dave and I took a weekend a few weeks ago and just spent time together and talked about our marriage, the kids, what we wanted to do as a family this year etc....We felt like we needed the weekend away because we never have time to really talk about those things in our every day life. One of the things I said to Dave was, "Wouldn't it be cool to have a marriage like Max and Travis" What I meant by that was....wouldn't it be cool for us as a couple to be constantly encouraging each other. To use MANY positive words and affirmations daily to encourage each other. We both agreed that would be GREAT!

There is untapped power in being positive. I'm on a journey to find that power.

[Calamity Jane]

OK...I'm only 5 minutes into this journaling thing and it already is helping. I'm going to tell you what I really think and then what I wrote down to reverse it.

Negative thought: I hate to wait on the computer to start up and connect with the internet. I don't want to wait. I've waited all day. I'm feeling peeved!

Journal entry: Waiting for the computer to start is a perfect time to straighten up my desk.

Negative thought: I worked 5 days straight last week and now this week I don't get a day off until Thursday. I NEED a day off!!

Journal entry: Having a big pay check from working all these extra hours is really going to come in handy.

Negative thought: I'm ticked because of all the extra hours at work.... I'm not going to get live fire range time in this week.

Journal entry: This is the perfect week to really focus on dry fire.

Negative thought: I was HELD hostage at work today with (2) 4 hour meetings. One of them was basic CPR. The class instructor was militant and annoying.

Journal entry: I'm so grateful to have reviewed child and infant CPR...never know when I'll need it.

Negative thought: The other meeting was a "Safety First" initiative training all hospital staff how to be more safe. Again...being held hostage at a mandatory meeting...when I NEED a day off.

Journal entry: I was reminded of some excellent communication techniques today in my Safety First meeting. That information will come in handy in my future job position.

OK YES......I'm turning myself into Pollyanna....but I have to say it feels pretty good.

Edited February 4, 2008 by Calamity Jane

[Nik Habicht]

That's awfully reminiscent of turning what you want to instinctively say into therapeutic communication --- but then both of these things are really just about focusing the attention on the place where it's needed.....

[j1b]

Jane,

I like the spin on things. One thing to keep in mind, sometimes we learn the most from our worst practice sessions.

Sometimes it takes putting the hand on the burner to know it's really hot. Now, since this was a practice session the good news is that this was a slight burn - nothing 3rd degree or anything - so the opportunity to capitalize on that and figure out how to get around the hot spots is right there for the taking!

You're like most of us. Your own worst critic. I watched a show on Tiger Woods the other day. I was ASTOUNDED at his self talk. If you just listened to the mic you'd think he was a weekend hack that couldn't get the ball in play. Yet I've heard he's a decent golfer.

Anything that causes us to learn is a good thing. Regardless of whether or not the experience was good.

I have a fantastic reputation for killing myself for my own mistakes. Hell, I do it when I post something in these forums, go back and read it, and think I'm a complete and utter idiot. Still working on those posts BTW. That said, I personally choose to believe the most successful individuals are also the people hardest on themselves.

There's nothing wrong with expecting perfection from ourselves. It's what will actually help us achieve it when nobody else believes we can.

Just my $.02.

J

[carinab]

There is untapped power in being positive. I'm on a journey to find that power.

Being positive is a conscious choice and certainly can help your game. It's pure corn syrup to be sure, but for me to be a better shooter, I have to be a better person. That means looking at my weaknesses and finding a way to work with them. So while being positive is important, I think it is just as important to figure out what causes the self doubt and get rid of that baggage. Or if you like to turn it around, find what is it that makes you feel confident - what will allow you to know instead of to try. Find the thing that gives you confidence and pair it with some positivity and then look out!