Life Inside the NBA is No Different From the Outside

 Life Inside is No Different From the Outside

💣 We are all always enamored by the glitz, glamour and grime of every story about life inside the NBA.  The superstars are the A-Listers every fan literally adored down to the toe.  But more than just the glitz and glamour, the NBA is a microcosm of what life is really all about.  From the time a rookie steps in its doorsteps until those from the 'cream of the crop' reap enormous contracts

enough to secure the future of their families, what is less shared and spilled out of the NBA are the rigors and the rough patches this bunch of 'real dogs' really go through practically the whole year till they get a respite during their summer breaks.  And year-round, save for the superstars who have bagged enormous contracts, everyone else would grind and outgrind each other.  This 10-year old piece from https://www.nba.com/nuggets/features/junior_bridgeman_20100610.html is an eye-opener that

the NBA is not the only way to gobble up the hundreds of millions you can dream of.  By 2009, Junior Bridgeman was even wealthier than Jay-Z and Kobe Bryant.  But the most lapel-grasping story was that he reached up north by as much as $200M not via the NBA contracts but by the sheer determination he eked out in thr rough and tumble world of business.  Despite being touted as the most successful sixth-man in the NBA, he cooked burgers, mopped the floor 

and helped his Wendy's employees in filling up the orders.  To think that by then, he was owning more than 160 Wendy's stores and 100 Chili's restaurants. Swinging back to our lives, this is all about RESILIENCY and that's not just a buzzword.  Treasure the relationships you have built and nurtured because what reinforces your resiliency are your relationships at the very 

core, with your family, your work subordinates.  Even when you hit rock-bottom, that's really NOT the end of the road for you.  Figure out that silver lining despite the gloominess that prevails all over you.  People do get cut off at the knees for multifarious reasons.  An illness strikes us down.  An accident hits us.  And that's the random element to being that's for sure.  And if you need to go through a massive revision, it's like the person that comes out at the other end might hardly be the same person.  Just like someone who's combatting alcoholism which is really a wretched thing to do [probably because most of your friends are alcoholics [and worst, even within your family too]].  At the end of the day, it's not how addicted you are to the substance but rather, it's how you live with it [and if you gotta stop all your drunk friends, JUST DO IT

In the midst of the gloom, do ask yourself, how wretched, miserable and futile is your life.  You got to take a pulse check, a temp check.  How do you fare and where you stand during that pulse check will nudge you which way to go, if at all.  But if you keep yourself in the fog, then you would be unable to tell when you did screw up because you don't know your direction and that sets you to make conditions for failure clear to you. Gotta fix what needs fixing, dude.🔍