A Confident Loser

Many of you have heard me make reference to my tennis playing years in some of my posts. I was a competitive tennis player starting in elementary school, climbed up through the junior league ladder, the high school varsity team and playing for my college division.  But to play in professional circuits your mind had to be better than your tennis skills.  My mind back then had no muscle to it. My thoughts were repeatedly critical, judgemental and I ended up each match competing against my inner critic instead of my opponent. Needless to say, my love for the sport dwindled and after I graduated college, I also hung up my racquet. It would be almost 20 years before I was back on a court, racquet in hand, with a clearer mind and loving the sport as I once did. If I knew then what I know now! Looking back I realize that to be a champion in sport (and in life), true success is the ability to handle upset, defeat and disappointment, well. We tell our children "try your best, that's all you can control". To not try, to not step out of our comfort zone, that is the loss. Every time we try and are unsuccessful, we get better at the task at hand than we were before. That is a success.  To not try or to quit, means never knowing what could have been. We will never know that we could have come out the other end probably AOK and we will be left with only "what if's?" How does that serve you? Anyone can feel confident when things are always going right. Feeling confident when things don't turn out as you planned, that's "winning". You have a brand new day ahead. What is one thing you are holding back on doing that you can move a step closer toward? Just one small step closer.......DO IT!.       Photo credit: Kelly  Sikkema on Unsplash