What's the difference between winning and losing?Losing is the end of the line, it means the journey stops there. The winner goes on to compete in larger canvas, and continues to compete with better competitors, and presumably with more at stake. But the point is, one win doesn't stop the competition. Consider the athletics if you will. Say you compete in a 100 meter dash in your local school. You win. Then you go for district, province, national, international, etc. Sure, there's a pot of gold somewhere, but the competition never ceases. The only thing that changes is your perception of who you are competing against, and whether or not you are a winner.
I was pondering this philosophical point this weekend. I had a nasty cold and fever for two days, and after consuming a bunch of medication, I was lying in bed on saturday having lucid dreams of alternate reality. It didn't help that the night before, I joined Bren's colleagues for dinner at an indian restaurant, and the restaurant owners were playing the most reprehensible CD imaginable - Celine Dion. That contributed to one of the songs (don't bother asking which one) being stuck in my head, a good indication probably what my hell feels like.
Anyways, back to my pondering. So I was thinking at what point do we stop thinking about competition and start enjoying being a non-winner, or better yet, a settler? We could theoretically go on and on for the perfect mate, and here competition is actually a good thing because you need to put in enough training and conditioning (education, grooming, fitness, social skills, table manners, impeccable taste) to win someone away from your competition. But when do we stop competing? Is there a continuous competition for the bigger prize? And when we find someone, do we stop competing, stop looking for someone better to come along, stop training and conditioning so that competition cannot lure your mate away? Does that make you a winner, loser or settler?
Maybe a more acceptable example would be your job. When do you stop competing for paycheck and title and corporate perqs and power within your organization and start enjoying making a difference or the time you actually spend on the job working? If you enjoy your current job, are you a loser, winner or settler?
I've reached a point where I've had just about enough of success and failure and just want to enjoy myself. Yes, my life hasn't gone on from success to bigger success to even more success in a larger setting, but I'm happy for my moments, and my experiences, my challenges, my disappointments - all of whom make me who I am.
I embrace my winning, losing and settling equally and wouldn't trade any of them for anything. I'll keep on training and conditioning though.
