What is Your Favorite Color?

We are all drawn to a color that we like. Ask someone what their favorite color is and I am sure they will have an answer ready to go. There tends to be little thought and an almost instant response is given. Think about your favorite color, what is it? The question that is rarely asked, and even less likely to be addressed is why?

My favorite color is red. I have answered red to this question for a long time now, but it was only recently that I really started to understand why. I started to do some digging into why the color red would have such a powerful impact and warrant to be called my favorite.

Way back when I started playing baseball, not tee-ball or coaches pitch, but real baseball I was only 9 years old. I had played on a team with my best friend. We were the Royals, complete with the KC logo hat and the royal blue shirts. He and I still look back at some of those team photos and laugh at how small we were and how young our dads look.

It was a big year for me. This was the first time I was using a real baseball and not the soft touch ones from previous seasons. The kids pitched, so that was an experience in and of itself. There were no less than 3 hit batters in any given game. I was also playing with kids that were a year older than me. Up to this point I was always the oldest kid on the team, one advantage to having a September birthday. My friends that were also in the league told me how hard it was to hit and that I would be playing outfield because all the older kids took up the infield spots.

I was an apprehensive kid. New things intimidated me and caused me to have a lot of anxiety. To this day, my emotional response to situations is something that I am conscious of and work hard to temper. So, to say that I was intimidated and nervous the first practice is an understatement. I had no idea what to expect and honestly without my best friend on the team I would have really struggled to show up two days a week.

The season went well. I picked up how to play the game and my fear of being hit by a pitch was gone within the first few at bats. I loved playing defense, and it showed even more when I was playing one of the highly coveted infield positions. This may be where my love of the game of baseball really started. I had so much fun playing and it really propelled me to continue to play all the way through high school and then take up coaching after my playing days were done. That is why I love the color blue….wait, my favorite color is red. So, what the hell was the point of that story?

Following the season, I was selected to the league All-Star team that traveled to 2 tournaments. I was the only one from my team that was selected to play and was one of the top 10 kids in my age group. We went on to win both tournaments that we played in, and I remained on this post season traveling team for the next few years until I changed to a different local program. I learned that I could do things that scared me. I learned that being nervous about a situation is ok and not something that has to limit me or hold me back. I learned that success can only come by putting yourself out there even is the outcome is unknown. Can you guess what color that team was…Red.

Stories have such a huge impact on us. This story of my baseball season led me to love the color red. Stories that we hear from others have a similar impact on those that listen. Have you ever been so consumed by a story you heard on the radio while driving that you almost missed your exit for work? So dialed into the plot that you place yourself in the same situation as the storyteller and you feel like you are right there? No matter if it is a story we tell ourselves or if it is a story being told to us, stories make ideas, like loving the color red, stick.

I am really excited to let everyone know that this is exactly what my dissertation will be about. Taking a deeper dive into how we communicate through stories and how to enrich the experience between teller and listener is my purpose for doing this work. I am looking forward to sharing more with you all in the coming months, so stay tuned!

-Mike