Balloons and PE Class

I was helping out in a PE class a few weeks back with a group of preschoolers when the class was equipped with the necessary components to a good time – inflated balloons.

For 3 year olds, there is nothing else needed in life for happiness.

And they did what any human does with balloons, they started throwing them in the air. Each student took their own balloon, threw it up in the air, watched it drift back down to them, and then snatched the balloon to begin the process all over again.

Except for one student.

He didn’t follow the path of each of his fellow classmates.

He immediately threw the balloon in the air and started…heading it like a soccer ball back into the air. Over and over again.

Standing there with this class of preschoolers, I was struck by the ingenuity of this one student. He had the same resources and opportunities with his balloon as any other student in that PE class. Yet he was able to do something that no other student had even thought of.

And, that’s a bit like ‘adult life’, isn’t it?

Often we have the same (or similar) resources and opportunities as others, but it seems like some people are able to accomplish something better, improved, or bigger than others.

And sometimes all it takes is thinking outside of the box a bit. Being creative with what you do have. Thinking outside of the box – while still being inside of the box.

Make sense?

Create something new out of something old, regular, or ordinary.

And you will find yourself accomplishing what others can’t even dream of.

Oh, and within 90 seconds of this young men heading his balloon, half the class was doing the same thing. That young man quickly became the trendsetter in his class with his ingenuity.