You can’t be afraid to slay the dragon. – Mark Messier
Mark Messier was a professional hockey player who played two seasons in the World Hockey Association before playing 25 seasons in the National Hockey League. Teams he played on won six Stanley Cup titles and Messier still ranks third on the NHL’s all-time scoring list and second on the games played list. Almost interesting is the fact Messier was the last active NHL player to have played in both the WHA and in the 1970’s.
Today’s Thought comes from 1994 when Messier’s New York Rangers were playing for the Stanley Cup the Rangers hadn’t won for 54 years. The Rangers had twelve players appearing in their first Stanley Cup final and led by Messier the Rangers would win the Cup in seven games, with Messier himself scoring the go-ahead goal in the second period.
We all have our dragons to slay. You have them, I have them, the accomplished people we admire have them. Those who get on in this life don’t let their dragons stop them.
Sometimes the biggest barrier to us slaying our dragons looks us in the mirror every morning. Sure, there outside factors that affect everyone’s life, but by and large we get out of our lives what we put into them. The difference between a life well-lived and time squandered is often the work and the patience we are willing to put into our years on this planet.
While it is not always easy to slay our dragons, once you’ve slain one or two you might well look back and wonder what all the fuss was about. A plan for slaying your dragons, plus the courage to go and do it, aided by the patience to see them slain seldom fails to produce dividends. It’s a dividend of confidence we can use to slay the other dragons that will appear throughout our life.
The Thought for the Day runs regularly. Quotes are from Gaylon’s private stock.
