"If you're a true warrior, competition doesn't scare you. It makes you better."
Competition exists in many areas of our life. It's not just for sports and game shows. Competition is what drives us to make improvements in our personal and professional lives.
It may not always be fun and exciting, but it exists to help us grow as individuals. Having a competitive Spirit can help us embrace all of the trappings that come with victory and defeat. There are always opportunities for lessons learned and progress made if we can look at the results from a growth perspective, no matter the outcome.
I consider myself a competitive person. I don't like losing, as I assume most of us may feel in defeat. However, as I have grown, I also don't like ignoring the valuable insights I can gain when taking a loss or suffering defeat. The most valuable thing I have learned over the years is how to accept defeat humbly. I used to be a sore loser in my youth. Board games. Individual or team sports. It didn't matter. I would sulk and it could take some time for me to get over the loss. Yes, even with board games. Looking back, I see how I had a lot of learning to do when it came to losing.
The worst part is those losses sometimes prevented me from wanting to compete in anything where I could not accept the idea of losing. I would rather not play than lose. I see now how that mentality only shielded me from having to deal with losing, which is where the real growth happens. Having more self-awareness and being more mindful of this has helped me immensely. Not only do I see the opportunities to learn and grow in defeat, I see how the idea of losing does not prevent me from participating anymore, for the most part.
I had to learn that losing does not make me a loser if I am able to take the lessons from that loss to help me prepare for the next go around. Also, if I gave it my best, that's all I can ask of myself. I have learned it does not help to get down on myself after loss. I can always take something from it, even if it's a hard lesson I realize I need to learn. That is how I learned to turn a loss into an opportunity for growth. I have also learned to see that as a win.
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