Today I asked a friend who used to be a competitive athlete as a child what they do now in their adulthood to fuel their competitive desire. They responded with "oh it is still there", with great vigor I might add. With such a firm answer, I dug a little deeper (mind you I had a reason, I tend not to ask questions for no reason). I asked, "yeah I believe that, but what do you do fuel it? How do you channel it?" I think I made this person think about how they fuel it.
It also caused me to think about how we as humans fuel our competitive desires. Some of us join adult recreation leagues if our bodies still allow us. Some of us pour our competitive nature into our careers. Some of us compete with ourselves everyday. Unfortunately, some choose to live vicariously through their children. We all know people who channel their competitive spirit in different ways.
For those of you that may not know or haven't figured it out by now, I am two weeks away from competing in my first bodybuilding show. (This is also my warning that you will see pictures of me in a bikini, so unfriend me now if you want). I have plenty more to share about the experience at a later date. But this is how I have chosen to channel my competitive nature. Sure on show day I'm competing against everyone else there. But everyday and every show, I'm really just competing against myself.
When you really look at it you'll see that competing with yourself is the only constant choice in competition. Teammates change, career changes happen, your children grow up and stop playing organized sports, but the one thing that is there waiting for you every morning when you wake up is YOU. Your body, mind and soul. Compete with yourself everyday!
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