Is Competition Healthy For EVERYONE?

One would have to think that the answer is obvious to the question:  is competition healthy for everyone...  but it is not obvious nor is it YES...  but, a resounding NO...   WHY?  Because, losing does not feel good nor does anyone brag or boast about losing.  Still, competition does teach valuable lessons to those who have the RIGHT PERSONALITIES to compete.

According to our online dictionary:  If you're competitive, you want to be the best. No one likes to lose, but if you are a competitive person, it will be especially disappointing to see someone else win. People who are competitive like to compete — to find out who knows the most, runs the fastest, can eat the most hot dogs, and so on.

NO ONE LIKES TO LOSE...

and, this point cannot be stressed enough because in EVERY SINGLE DAMN COMPETITION SOME MUST LOSE...

The Psychology of Losing

The unbending truth is that a race has exactly one winner. Every other competitor loses, and depending on their expectations, each of them has to deal with varying degrees of the emotions that come with losing. A single loss can be hard enough to deal with, let alone a string of losses that shake our very ability to perform. No matter what the sport, every competitor hates losing, and for good reason! Besides the blow to the ego, losing actually hurts; not in an abstract way, but in a very real manner! It makes your stomach churn, changes your blood pressure, constricts thousands of muscles, impairs decision making, elevates stress, reduces testosterone, causes dopamine deprival, and much more. It’s real, we’ve all felt it, and it’s no fun. Your body wants to feel better. Your mind wants to prove its worth. Your ego wants to regain its self-image. These are real and measurable physiological and psychological effects. Losing, quite literally, feels really bad.

Fun fact: Winning not only feels better; it seems, winners also live longer! Academy Award-winners live, on average, four years longer than other actors.

Of course, it isn’t exciting or sexy to talk about losing. But the fact that only one driver wins a race and everyone else loses means that we would be well served to not just understand what losing does to our psychology, but also explore how to cultivate a more effective approach and way of thinking so we can make the best of the situation when we fail to win.   SOUIRCE:  Beyond Seat Time

YET...  we as parents PUSH our children to NOT JUST COMPETE but WIN...  No one wants to be nor does one ever set out to be a loser...  but losing MUST HAPPEN 50% of the time...

EXAMPLES OF LOSING:

1. The British LOST the American Colonies
2. The South LOST the Civil War
3. Germany, Japan, Italy LOST World War II
4. Hillary Clinton LOST the 2016 Election
5. Millions of people have LOST the battle against COVID-19
6. GOD has LOST many of HIS followers