There is nothing better than Opening Day, in my mind. The promise of a new baseball season awaits and every team has a chance to reach the World Series (at least in the minds of their fans).
Today (Friday) is Opening Day in Denver for the Colorado Rockies. They started the season on Monday in Milwaukee but today marks their first home game of the season. The weather is going to be glorious in Denver at 71 degrees and sunny. It’s the type of day that makes you love living in Colorado even more than you thought you could.
The Rockies are 3-1. They’re atop the National League West (even though it’s only four games into the season, that’s a very rare sight in recent years for the Rockies). The hated Los Angeles Dodgers are coming into town. A sellout crowd will see a Denver native, Kyle Freeland, take the mound for the Rockies to start the game and to make his Major League debut. With a huge American flag unfurled during the national anthem and a flyover scheduled just before first pitch, it will be a patriotic day.
The stars couldn’t align any better for what will be an amazing Friday in downtown Denver.
And … I’m writing this on a plane bound for San Diego. Go figure.
I would love to be at Coors Field today, soaking up the sun and the first of 81 home games for the Rockies. However, I committed to attending a business conference in San Diego quite some time ago. When the Major League schedule came out, I cursed in my head a bit, knowing I would be gone on Opening Day. As the day has gotten closer and the weather forecast has grown more and more impressive, the cursing has grown louder and louder … in and out of my head.
Yet as much as I want to be in downtown Denver today, I know I need to be in San Diego. I’m attending a conference that will help me grow my career and my business. I need to learn some new techniques and expand my boundaries a bit. This will be the perfect weekend to do that.
Getting on the plane this morning wasn’t easy, but sometimes doing the right thing for your career simply isn’t. CE classes aren’t always fun, but they’re necessary. Attending that class on the weekend in the city when you could be at the beach isn’t always what you want to do, but it is what you need to do. Studying for an exam to earn some extra credentials after your name isn’t as easy as turning on the TV and relaxing, but it’s worth it in the end.
Expanding your career is important. When all is said and done, yes, it’s more important than being at a baseball game. If I’m going to be the best at what I do (and, in my mind, that’s helping to educate dental assistants around the country), then I have to keep reinventing myself. I have to keep current. I have to know my audience better. I have to know where my business can improve and how I can get there.
Education is the key to furthering your career, whether you’re in the dental field or speaking to the fine people in the dental field. It’s not a matter of “if” you should do it. It’s a matter of which area of your career do you want to improve.
The Rockies have 80 more games at home this season after today. I’ll have plenty of time to be at Coors Field this spring and summer and plenty of time to see some of the most amazing sunsets you’ll ever see in a Major League stadium. For today, I’ll check the ESPN app a couple of times to see how they’re doing before I lock in on my course and my business in San Diego.
It’s the right thing to do, Opening Day or not.
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