Fire Department

Control What You Can

In Andre Agassi’s autobiography titled “Open,” he explains in great detail how the mental aspect of professional tennis can be more debilitating and harder to manage than the physical challenges. From early in his career, to his very last professional match, when he began to lose focus, he repeated the phrase, “Control what you can control.” Agassi noticed descending levels of control in his playing environment. Even though he was a professional athlete, he couldn’t control the weather, or the surface of the court. He couldn’t control his opponent, but he frequently studied his opponents beforehand and anticipated their style of play. The only thing he could control was what he had done to prepare before a match, what items he put in his tennis bag he brought onto the court, and how he reacted to his opponent’s shots. When preparing for emergencies, or living our lives, we can only control what we can control with similar levels of descending control. We can’t control the weather. As we have seen in recent months, we can’t control what goes in the federal government, and we have limited influence at the state level. We can study and anticipate what emergencies might come our way and focus on what is likely to happen. The only things we can control are; how we live our lives, how we prepare for the future, and how we react to what comes at us. Let’s focus on what we can control and less on what is out of our hands. Beyond our homes we can also get to know our neighbors and be an influence for good to those around us. Like all of you, I am looking forward to a wonderful spring in Washington City.

–Ward Symes

            Fire Department  WashingtonCity.org/fire