A couple of weeks ago my family and I decided to embrace the challenge of training for a brand new sport for us, soccer. Don’t get me wrong as kids my husband and I had both played leisurely; however, it wasn’t until my soon to be three year old seemingly became obsessed with soccer that we decided to fully embrace the sport with her and give training for it a try.

Over the last few weeks the weather here has been BEAUTIFUL and one particular afternoon we decided to head to the local park to do a few soccer drills, partly for cardio but mostly for fun because at age 2 I don’t think my daughter really even understands the game of soccer, yet.

As we arrived to the open soccer field we were amazed that no one else was around and we had somehow stepped into an opportunity to have the entire soccer field to ourselves, this was going to be great. As we kicked the ball up and down the field our voices filled the air with laughter and my daughter loved it; however, there was one problem.

Although we had the entire field to ourselves there was a small danger zone behind us that my daughter seemed to be obsessed with. We would kick the ball in the big open field and my daughter seemed to love to combat our kicks by running to throw the ball in the small danger zone behind us. “Kaitlyn, we have the entire field in front of us, why do you keep throwing the ball in the danger zone behind us,” we asked time and time again. “I don’t know, I like it,” she said innocently. We didn’t get it but it did sound familiar.

So often, life presents us with huge fields of opportunities and instead of seizing those opportunities we seem to become obsessed with the “danger zone” by attempting to seize those opportunities behind us in the past. These “past opportunities” could include returning to an old job that feels comfortable, comparing old successes to new successes or simply just attempting to fit yourself back into the mold of the person you once were.

Seize the opportunities in front of you. Don’t worry about those small things that are behind you dressed up as “opportunities”. If it was yours, it wouldn’t be behind you. Opportunities are endless if only you stay focused on the prize you already have in your hands.

I once heard someone say: “don’t worry about the closed doors behind you because there will always be new doors opening IF you choose to keep moving forward”