IT'S NOT ABOUT WINNING

Competition and growth are birds of a feather that will always flock together. Whether it be healthy or unhealthy competition. This is because competition in itself has a reward that isn't part of the physical rewards the competitors get and that is experience. This is one reason I love it when someone tells me something I can't do. I'm not the kind of guy that sits back because I can't do it, I'm the kind of guy that keeps going until I find a way out. And this is the growth part of competition because after you win or go through it, you're never the same again. But as much as that is the growth part of competition, it is also the scariest part of competition because it changes something in you. It either takes something away from you that you will never be able to get back, or it gives you something that you will never be able to lose in your lifetime. Either way, the fact that you went through it means growth and growth is a part of life that isn't easily attainable and harder to get as we move on.

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I've gone through a good number of competitions growing up, and even though I hate losing, I've lost countless times than I could imagine, yet I've learned how not to lose the same way countless times which has made me win some of those times. I remember back in junior secondary school, there was this girl that just came to our class and started taking the first position, a position that I had held for so long. It was a shock at first, but it made me like her because I finally felt like I got a competitor in class. She became my secondary school girl friend and although the relationship didn't last because I was just in a competition while she was in love, the competition made me go miles I never thought about. I started reading back to back like I never read before, I started doing deep research into subjects I never cared about just so I could beat her but I failed because for every mile I went, she went twice.

This was when it became unhealthy as I started finding ways to beat her instead of finding ways to grow. Well I grew but was no longer growing intellectually. I started learning to become corning and that made me go into a relationship with her with the mindset of finding a weakness and using it against her. That plan succeeded, but it cost me a dear friend. It made me realize the importance of having a great friendship and when I realized it, I had already lost it. Competition can be unhealthy when there are no rules and the motive is wrong. This is a time when the means justifies the end because sometimes it's not about winning, but about learning. I learned this from the holy book a long time ago, Jesus dying was him losing, but him losing was him winning the world to himself. This made me value healthy competitions because it gives us rewards that money can never buy. Sometimes it's not just about winning, it's about finishing because in finishing, you went through the process, understood It and if given another opportunity, would be able to do it with your eyes closed.

THIS IS MY RESPONSE TO HIVE LEARNER'S PROMPT FOR WEEK 171 EPISODE 1