There is no golf on this detour to Belgium and The Netherlands. But as we have discussed on past posts, excelling on the links and excelling in life require similar internal dialogue. In my opinion, positive self-talk and quieting the doubts in our minds are a constant battle. If one is thinking properly, a challenge can be overcome through self-belief. Sometimes we will have outside support or coaching, but without SELF-BELIEF, we will often become paralyzed with fear or fall short of our potential.
I try to be self-aware. I define this as knowing my own strengths, weaknesses, and tendencies. And for me, it doesn’t stop with just acknowledging them. I try to embrace this information and slowly chisel away at becoming the best version of myself. My trip to Brussels has exposed me in a few ways. First, I am traveling alone. Second, I am not familiar with the city or the culture. And third, I am really struggling to be “seen and heard” in this city because it is 95% French speaking.
When you have to open each interaction with “English OK?,” it takes you out of the natural flow of a conversation. Most of you know I like to do most of the talking, but I can’t use my wit or charm due to the language barrier. I feel like I have a lot of things to say, but I just don’t know how to say them. I can see all of my former colleagues laughing right now because I generally take up an entire room of oxygen.
I remember when I worked at Pebble Beach in the 1990’s and early 2000’s and we were in the midst of the golf boom in Japan. Part of our customer service training was dealing with the language barriers we faced every day. The tendency, I learned, is to inadvertently talk louder when the other person doesn’t understand you. This just leads to frustration for the speaker and the listener. Who would have thought that 25 years later, I would be harkening back to these lessons with a more nuanced understanding of what it feels like to be the foreigner?
Despite all of this, my visit to Brussels has been memorable. I saw the palace, two spectacular churches, had some great coffee, got caught in a “gully washer” thunderstorm, and found a cold pint of Theoreme de L’Empereur.
I also had the best salad of my life, which was totally by accident. In Brussels, I have been put into the position of pointing at what I want on the menu and still not knowing what the hell it is. For my audience, the “Salade Cesar” is more of a Mediterranean salad which includes rigatoni, sliced egg, and a Thousand Island style dressing. Two thumbs up.
I will spend the morning in Brussels then hop an afternoon train to Amsterdam. I turn 58 tomorrow, so self-reflection is at an all time high. The good news is that I can say “waffle” and “chocolate,” so I should be able to accomplish my two most important Belgium tasks quite easily.
