I do not understand why so many people are so competitive? I do not see joy in it, in fact I see the antithesis of joy; I see stress. I especially don't understand it in recreation; work maybe, we all want more money.
In just about anything I do I see it. Cyclists want to do a metric century, then a full century, then doubles, then harder rides the anguish of which I would see as torture. Yogis (those who practice Yoga) want to do harder positions, then stand on their shoulders, then stand on their head, then God knows what?
It is not just athletic events where this competitive behavior rules. In tech; bloggers worry about how many people visit their blogs and soon they are writing stuff to drive their stats up. Model railroaders anguish over details on their model trains you need a magnifying glass to see. Wine snobs outbid each other and spend fortunes in wine auctions for wine bottles that have to be cellared until long after the buyers are dead. Photographers argue about what is best film or digital and sacrifice their lives, their family for the sake of getting the better picture. I just do not get it.
We even compete with others and we compete with ourselves. I see people pushing themselves to beat personal bests climbing up mountains, timing their bike rides, pushing to go faster, longer and work harder and not stop and enjoy the scenery. I don't get it.
There was a bike ride I used to do called the Sierra to the Sea that I stopped doing because the organizers decided it needed to be harder. (No worries, plenty of others took my place.)
I have never timed myself riding my bike up a hill. I am afraid if I do I won't stop to enjoy the scenery. I do not care that I am not the best photographer I can possibly be; my pictures make me happy. I have no desire to stand on my head. I am getting what I want out of yoga at the level I am at. I don't care that my model trains are not perfect. I relax when I am running my trains. I don't ever check my blog stats. I am afraid it will change what I write.
In the end we all die. Nothing's going to change that. My goal is to be in the moment, love my friends and family and just be. What is wrong with just being?
1 comment:
Thank you Steve. I think this is great! I love to bike but lately I feel like I am being attacked by the bike snobs. I was unaware that I was going up Henry Coe on a VW rather than a Mercedes. It is the first bike I bought five years ago and frankly a new one is not in my budget right now. But I still love biking! Don't take my fun away!
Post a Comment