i was playing tennis today... during class. practiced something different, and haha, naturally i was one of the worst in class, just couldn't hit the ball the right way in class. and when we played game, i kept losing for my doubles partner.
all these had me depressed and despaired. I like play 3 times a week, getting as much practice as i can, and yet i still do so poorly compared to my coursemates, who never play apart from the class. i could be angry at myself, and i was. kicked myself for not having a single sport bone in my body. and that no matter how hard i try, i still cannot make it, in sports as in life, compared to these other people...
taking a step back, i realized something important.
How good i perceive myself, should not be relative to other people. if i want to compare, the only person whom i should be comparing with, is myself. Nobody else is relevant. Nothing else is relevant. Of course, people will say that you're at the top of your class, won first prize, came in last for the marathon... so on and so forth.
That's really their own problem. Not mine. Each and everyone is unique. If i really want to rationalize away my comparative shortcomings, i can always say that the other people were highly sports-oriented folk, one is a physical ed teacher, the other a national sportsperson. But what's the point of doing that?
What i should really be doing... is look at myself now, as compared to before. My tennis is improving, my health is improving, my love for sports is immense. I have done alot of the things that i've set out to achieve, and just because i'm the worst student in tennis class in no way diminishes my self-worth.
I am proud of who I am. I try hard to do the things that I set out to do. Just because everyone is better than me in some (and many) ways does not mean I'm a piece of crap. My sense of self-worth should not be contingent to how people do compared to me.
That's a good lesson to learn during tennis class, no?
:)
No comments:
Post a Comment