While walking through my neighborhood recently, I happened upon a group of kids having a water balloon fight. They were laughing and seemed to be enjoying themselves, but I soon realized that the primary reason they were laughing wasn’t the balloons they threw bursting when they hit each other; it was the balloons bouncing off each other.
Very few of their balloons were bursting on impact, which was cracking up the kids.
As I carried on walking, I found myself wondering why the kids’ water balloons weren’t breaking. My curiosity sent me down an internet rabbit hole that resulted in my social media feeds being flooded with water balloon videos for the rest of the week. (Oh, joy!)
One of those videos featured a science experiment that involved holding a water balloon over a candle flame. This video further piqued my curiosity.
@marchedits_ #fypシ Why A Candle Won't Pop A Water Balloon😮 #march_edits #balloons #zackdfilms #foryou ♬ original sound
The flame instantly popped empty balloons, but water-filled balloons remained intact. Some further research led me to learn that a “water balloon doesn’t pop over a flame because the water inside absorbs heat so efficiently that the rubber never gets hot enough to melt or weaken.”
An empty balloon can’t dissipate the heat, causing the thin latex to melt almost immediately. The water draws the heat away from the surface faster than the flame can transfer it.
The water didn’t prevent the flame from touching the balloon. It simply absorbed the heat before it could become destructive. The same thing was happening when the kids threw the water balloons at each other. The water absorbed the impact, spreading the force across the balloon’s surface and preventing the latex from bearing the full force of the collision.
That distinction got me thinking about teammates.
Being a good teammate doesn’t mean you won’t get hit. You will. You will make mistakes. You will experience failure. You will get benched. You will watch someone else receive the recognition you wanted. You will be asked to sacrifice something for the benefit of someone else. You will experience disappointment, frustration, and adversity.
Being a good teammate doesn’t prevent those unpleasant things from happening. It changes what happens when they do.
When you are filled with an understanding of what it truly means to be a good teammate—when you understand your responsibility to others, recognize that your actions affect the entire team, and find purpose in serving something bigger than yourself—you have something inside you capable of absorbing those experiences.
The disappointment may still hurt. The mistake may still sting. The loss may still frustrate you. But they don’t have to break you.
An empty teammate has nothing inside to absorb the impact. When adversity comes, the force is felt entirely on the outside, and self-preservation becomes the natural response. They blame, shame, and complain. They withdraw. They put themselves first.
And that’s when teams begin to break.
What is inside of us matters because, eventually, something is going to hit us. The question isn’t whether we’ll experience adversity. The question is what we have inside ourselves to absorb it when it comes.
As always…Good teammates care. Good teammates share. Good teammates listen. Go be a good teammate.
