Stop competing with others- Start competing with yourself
Competition- such a tough word. No one can escape from this. It has become a part of your lives now a days. Happily or unhappily we have accepted this truth that it will be part of our lives forever because you have to compete in every walk of your life. Is there anything which comes without competition- I do not think so.
It all starts when you are a child- a stage which is like a blank white board, whatever is written on it, it never goes away for the rest of your life. When we do not know what is good or bad for us, we are told that we have to become a part of this mad race where you have to perform better than others..A sense of competitiveness is inculcated in us- thanks to our teachers and parents. Without you given a freedom to choose what you want to do, there is already a path set up for you. All you need to do is follow it and make sure that you are always ahead from others. So you always have things in mind-how to get a better rank from your class mates, how to become best in sports. In short how to be number one in whatever you do. Because you have been taught that only if you are number one, this world would recognize you. There is no place for losers in this world. How inhuman is that. This world belongs to those who are successful or powerful. So, you understand that there is no way out but to compete at all levels and be better than others. You do that starting from school days- you do whatever it takes to out perform others like in academics, sports, fashion etc. You can put this in other words by saying that you work hard to give your best to get best. Over a period of time, this becomes the style of our living, our existence, our attitude towards life. You want to excel in everything- this becomes the true meaning of life. You finally become the part of this mad race. When in school, you honestly pursue the part of being best in everything. Selfishness, hatred, cunningness, deceitfulness etc are still not able to influence you much but you get a taste of it as you approach towards the end of 1st phase of life i.e. school life. As you step in you second phase which is supposed to lay a foundation for the rest of your life especially the professional part, you start encountering these traits more frequently. Because you still are competing with others, you take help of these traits slowly. You do not know when these things become part of your life. You start believing that such things are very much essential in order to keep competing. As you step in 3rd phase
where you make identity for yourself, you feel it very difficult to get rid of these traits and continue to use them to your benefit.
There are many people who are able to keep up with the pace. But many people are not able to and that’s when they see their end happening. Students committing suicide when they fail in the exams, people ending their lives when they lose their jobs are few real examples which shows that if you are not able to compete, you have no right to live. Its very sad when such stories make the headlines in the news. Who is responsible for all those who end their lives like this. We should ask this question to ourselves. We might get an answer.
After so many years of being in this mad race, a time comes when you ask yourself why you still are not happy. What’s that we are missing. But for most of the people its very late to star finding the answer because they have gone so far into this race that a return looks very difficult. This is because from the very beginning we have been told that this is what life is all about- win and win whatever you do. It does not matter whether you love it or not. You have to do it because others are doing it, because that’s what is the trend, because that’s what is required to make your life comfortable, because that’s what will give you an identity. A perfect example which depicts this case is all those who madly pursue MBA not because its the right profession for them but because its the profession which can give them all comforts of life- money, identity, power etc. There are many such cases where people are not happy in what they do but they have no option and continue to be part of mad race.
Competition is a good thing. But when you compete with others, most of times it helps less and harms more as it takes away everything you had which could have distinguished you from others and would have made you feel what success and happiness is all about.
People who do understand this should try to compete with themselves and improve themselves in whatever way they want. Even if you do not get much success you won’t feel bad and demoralized because if you haven’t won, then no one else has won. This will keep your spirits high and definitely you would excel and achieve whatever you had amied for.
So stop competing with others’ its time to start competing with yourself and get to know your true self.