Competition. It is a word that has always been in my life because I was an active athletic girl (and now woman) who loved to compete. I loved competing in sports against myself, my peers, and rivals. Now as an adult, I realized there is still a lot of competition occurring unconsciously all around us. And definitely not just in the sports arena. I know you may think this is obvious. 

But I think a question we often don’t ask ourselves individually is…who are we competing against in our daily life? Our coworkers? Ourselves? Our sister? Our brother? Friends? Lover? Other family? And why are we competing? Is it all materialistic? Is it for attention? Is it to feel a certain emotion? 

I realized that I was competing more than I realized beyond athletic endeavors. And it was definitely not a conscious thing. And so I have challenged myself to be present, realize why I am competing and with whom? And then ask the question, is this necessary or do I need to change my behavior or action? And most of the time, the answer is yes.

Life is hard enough without so much competition. Don’t get me wrong, at times competition can be healthy and actually produce some great actions. It can also be toxic and unnecessary. Once I started doing this, I realized that it also started to eliminate some emotions that I don’t particularly like- jealousy being a big one. And it felt really good.

So I challenge you (like I have been challenging myself) to look in the mirror and ask who are you competing with and why?