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The first day I got to Amsterdam, a man on the train asked me my age.

I found out his name was Eddie, and through a friendly conversation about what I was doing in Amsterdam for the first time... basketball naturally camp up, and I found out that Eddie is a hooper, and we love to see it!!!

We exchanged niceties and at the next stop, we both got off of the train and said goodbye. What a nice start to the trip. :)

I took two or three minutes to puzzle over the signs that have lots of "A's" and "J's", and "V's" in them before I headed in the direction of the exit -- two 49.5lb checked bags in tow (one is a hard-cased, deep-red bag, named Ruby, who I broke the handle off of earlier that day), and two very large "25-30lb personal items".

I've got a problem, I know.

The cobblestone was unforgiving and I was already sweating, but the sun was shining, and the office buildings were a cool version of crooked on the way up, and shooooooot I was in Amsterdam for the first time!!!

Nothing can rain on this parade!

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As I neared the exit, one thing was totally clear to me...

...those are stairs.

Two different chunks of them going straight down and one more chunk going left or right.

I stopped at the top of the stairs and remembered that there was an elevator right where I got dropped off but I'd come too far to go back now.

There's a lesson I give in my classroom sessions titled, "Hard Choices = Easy Life." And I thought to myself, "You can't teach from a culture that you're unwilling to live out".

I took out my phone to take a video of what I was about to do and...

down Ruby tumbled.

I'm going to be honest. I've never seen anything more violent.

Thank the LORT no one was coming up those stairs because there's a real chance a person would've turned into a projectile.

I took a picture with that phone still in my hand, and hurried down the stairs to find Ruby fully intact, carrying the other three bags down the three chunks of stairs and laughing and catching my breath when I looked up and realized... I was trapped.

There was a gate that required you to scan your ticket to get out.

And public transportation was free in Luxembourg last week... and I was coming to the understanding that Amsterdam was not the same.

I pushed the little Info-Call button on a tall polygon, and it spoke:

"something in Dutch." it said.

"How do I get out of here?" I asked, innocently and in English.

"WHERE IS YOUR TICKET??" he legit raised his voice to say.

"Uhm, sir, I'm more than happy to buy a ticket, but I didn't think I needed one, I just came from a...", he cut me off:

"WHY WOULD YOU THINK YOU DIDN'T NEED A TICKET??" bro was literally scoldingly asking.

At that point I just let out a flabbergasted laugh and began to walk away, and when I looked up, I saw a familiar face...

It was Dennis Rodman?!?!?!?!

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Lol just kidding it was Eddie. :)

He saw me struggling from his bus stop and came to save the day!!! 😩😭💛

He swiped himself back in the gate and then the both of us out, and we laughed as Mr. Scoldington carried on with his rage.

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There were several unfortunate events that evening,

-the broken handle,

-the big ass bags,

-nearly becoming a murderer,

-meeting Mr. Scoldington.

Lots of hard choices were made lol...

and one was actively refusing to let any of that stuff ruin my day.

Most of the time I can convince myself that I love it when hard stuff happens. It gives me a chance to be different.

But the biggest, stand-out hard choice?

It wasn't even made by me. :)

It was made by a complete stranger who went far out of their way to be kind.

It would've been so much easier NOT to help some lost foreigner move around some 49.5lb bags because she stole away on a train.

But he did. :)

I used to think that whole "Hard Choices = Easy Life" thing just applied to self... and that day it clicked for me,

Making hard choices makes everyone's life better.

People see it.

Are inspired by it.

And behaviors that get modeled, get repeated. <3

In other news...

I'm running several camps, training sessions, and clinics here in Amsterdam... and I've also started filming the the Shooters Shoot Training App--a culmination of all of my knowledge in shooting, psychology, and basketball IQ delivered via a new daily workout over the course of 365 days.

Every day you'll receive:

365 mini-lessons on shooting science.

365 deliberate focus assignments for the day.

365 workouts.

365 acts of light.

You'll have two ways to join:

-General Subscription group (completely self-led, no feedback)

or

-365 Unlimited group (unlimited feedback and custom shooting plans delivered in-app).

If you'd be interested in joining a Beta-test for the first 14 days (should be ready in a few weeks), please sign up here. Please sign up ONLY if you have the space to do the workouts each day and be willing to give meaningful feedback. (The link will just take you to my website -- but it'll record your email for me so I can let you know when we're ready to onboard!)

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Go make some hard choices today. For yourself and for someone else. :)

I'll check in again soon,

BriAnna

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Helpful links:

​Shooters Shoot Training Website​