Your guide to a healthier perspective of life
We’re all dying – whether it’s slowly or quickly. We all have an expiration date. But we can help delay that date and prolong our lives by improving ourselves daily. We can eat better, exercise regularly, read more, become more resilient, less stressed, etc, etc.
What are you doing today to grow yourself?
If you want to “play it safe” or to not be criticized, you can find ways to hide. Don’t take the shot. Don’t take the risk of losing, messing up, or looking foolish. Don’t play the game…
But if you do that, you limit how much you can grow and how great you can become. Each time you fail, you learn something. You grow. You become more anti-fragile. Use those failures as stepping stones for your success.
You can stay within your comfort zone, but by doing so, you’ll never reach your full potential.
Tony Gaskins was credited with saying, “If you can’t do anything about it, then let it go. Don’t be a prisoner to things you can’t change.”
I 100% agree with that statement. But I don’t want to just leave it at that. I would add that if you CAN do something about it, then do something. A lot of things are outside of our control, but inside of our influence. We have to take responsibility for our destiny by taking control of our effort and actions.
Did we try our best? Did we give it our all? Is something we’re doing (or not doing) helping produce the results we want? How is our mindset, our diet, exercise, and sleep? Are we learning new things? Are we feeling emotionally and spiritually fulfilled? What are we feeling anxious or stressed about and why?
It’s just like the Serenity Prayer…
“God, grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.”
If it’s not going to matter in five years, don’t let yourself stress over it for more than five minutes. Feel your feelings. You don’t have to be a robot. But if something isn’t going to matter in the grand scheme of things, let it roll off your shoulders. Why stress out over something that has already happened and that you can’t change? Try to remedy the situation or learn from your experience/get better so that same thing doesn’t happen again.
I love competition. It just makes me happy. Some of my favorite college memories are from competing…in basketball games, beer pong tournaments, and fitness competitions (like the “Most Fit Buckeye” competition and doing out-of-state Tough Mudders). I remember doing a CrossFit-style working out and trying to beat my friend across a finish line. We both dove across a basketball gym floor (and the imaginary finish line) trying to beat each other. We probably looked ridiculous to other people at the rec center. I don’t know who won, but I know that we both laid on the floor and died laughing.
Whenever I can, I always try to win. But if I lose, I don’t let it ruin my day. I think this is a healthy measure of competitive spirit. It might have held me back from some success according to outside measures, but internally, it is what is most satisfying for me. If I lose, as long as I tried my hardest and lost, I’m usually OK with it. I look back at things and try to figure out what I need to improve on and how I can get better so that I will win next time, but that is the competitor side in me. I don’t let it ruin my day or get under my skin. I’m not going to be a bad sport about it.
Be grateful for all that you have, including the ability to compete. Many people don’t have the same opportunities as you have, and that is a reason to be grateful.