3 x life lessons from Mariah Carey
Yes, that Mariah Carey and no, not me personally.
I wish I could tell you that Mimi and I (as I imagine her nearest and dearest call her) went out for cocktails, whereby she sat me down and said “listen, Kirsty - I need to share some valuable life lessons with you. Also, I really want you to have this $50,000,000 that I don’t need”…
…but ALAS - it’s not that glamorous.
I was scrolling through the ‘gram on Sunday night when I saw a reel on the explore page; a video of Mariah Carey circa 2008 throwing the first pitch in a baseball game in Tokyo, Japan.
You can check it out for yourself here, but suffice to say that her pitching skills are no match for her Pitching Skills (get it!?).
Which is totally fine, being as her Pitching Skills literally set the world standard for what a person can achieve with their vocal cords.
But I digress. In a different and more important way, the pitch that she threw with the baseball was also a massive success, in a non-traditional way.
Honestly, it was SO inspiring that I shared the story and lessons gleaned the next morning with my class of HIIT pilates students as we prepared to tackle 55 minutes of intensely hot, HIIT-intervals.
There are some days when you just know that your intention has really hit home (a home run!?) and lemme tell you - this was one of ‘em.
As grins and laughter turned to affirming head nods and exclamations of agreement, I could feel that the message had resonated with them in exactly the same way it had with me.
Naturally, you must be chomping at the bit to know what the 3 x life lessons I took away from that video are - find ‘em below:
If you ever feel out of your depth somewhere, remember you’re there for a reason.
Mariah wasn’t invited to throw the first pitch at that game ‘cos of her world-class baseball skillz; she was invited there because of everything she’d done and achieved in the lead-up to that moment. So next time you feel like you don’t belong somewhere or you have nothing to contribute, remind yourself that all the past versions of you have already earned your right to be there.
If you don’t create or do your best work, remember that your value is not tethered to your singular out-put.
Mariah pitched what may have been one of the worst balls of all time - but she smiled and waved to the crowd as if it were the best, ‘cos she knew that her value and self-worth wasn’t tied to the outcome of her pitch. She knew that just by being there, with all the inherent value she as a person contains, was much more than enough.
If you show up to the ‘game’ with your best energy and give it your best crack, you’ve already won.
As responsible parental figures the world over have always told us - how you do anything is how you do everything. If you can bring your A game (i.e. the very best of you) even to things that are not your area of expertise or skillset - the outcome is SO irrelevant. Even if you cock it up spectacularly a la Miss Carey, you’ve already proven what a bloody champion you are - a la Miss Carey.
Did I miss anything!? What was your fave takeaway?
