This thought came to my mind while I was playing football today (for only the third time in my life).
As I am growing old, accepting making mistakes is becoming a struggle within myself. I know it is easy to blame the system in which we reside that says school is over and thus manyatimes learning too when we complete academic education, or to blame myself for finding an excuse. Be it what it may, both blames will not work in my favor.
Then a question came to my mind. What could be the source of this fear of making mistakes. Among others, certainly one possible reason is the fear of losing in comparison with the other or feeling low or embarrassed if I don't perform at a standard that has been defined.
Since childhood, the system we live in has somehow fueled the idea of competition with classmates, neighbors, siblings or society as a whole. If for a moment I presume that i teach myself to compete Only and Only myself, how would life become for me?
The measure of comparison then would not be what 'other' has scores or how 'other' has performed, but how I performed the previous time. It is common to feel low when compared to another but when compared to my previous self I feel hard to think that I will feel low or embarrassed. Yes I would feel the need to push myself but with a positive insight and feeling!!
Let's presume another scenario. If one has attained first position, but the national standard or even the international standard was low, then may be that individual has been deceived to feel that the first position implies that scope for improvement is less. On the other hand when I compete solely thyself I am encouraged to not only grow my standards gradually higher and higher but with also a never ending downward or stagnant slope of learning.
Hence learning shall continue for Life, and more importantly with neither distaste for 'other' or for 'thyself' :)
