Everything in life is a competition from the day you are born to the die you die. You'll always be forced to be a competitor, whether you know it or not.

Life will put you in the games of all calibers; those that are easy to win, those that are close between you and your competition, ones where you have no shot of winning, and those that a come from behind win happens.

But inevitably, no matter what, everything in life will be a competition. And with that, there will be winners, and losers, and rarely will you see a world with ties. Your competition ranges from your siblings, perhaps your parents successes, teammates, but MOST importantly, yourself, which among all other competitors, in my opinion, is the hardest to beat. One of my close friends, Tori, recently emphasized to me that each day you have to be the one to push yourself, motivate yourself, and you have to convince yourself to become a better person than the day before. And with that, its almost second nature to compare yourself to the others around you for that motivation.

In sports, if you come in second place, others may view that as a loss. But, for you, it could have been your best game. You could have became a better player or better teammate in some way, and that's what you choose to take out of your loss. No matter what, if you win or lose, you are still earning points for a big win later.

Maybe you aren't the strongest player on your team, and during the off-season, you watch your teammates continue to add weight, but you on the other hand are slowly working your way to do what may be easy to them. So you start adding weights to your exercises, which adds points to your game. You begin working your way to win for yourself, become a better, stronger, and faster player. Soon you realize the extra work you have put in at the gym is showing off and you have caught up to your teammates.

In school, someone's 60% on a test may be a win for them, but a loss for you. Now, that doesn't mean they are any less intelligent or less capable then you, it just means you are both at different parts of the game, earning your points differently. Or perhaps. inductions for National Honor Society are coming up, some people may take it as that they were an easy "shoe-in" to be inducted. You on the other hand had to make sure you maintained a 93% in all of your classes and had to squeeze several extra-curricular activities to your already hectic schedule to even be considered to be inducted. Either way, you've earned some major points.

Maybe you hunt, and your acquaintances have shot game in each season, but you on the other hand have only been able to shoot one animal and that was during turkey season. Your opponents may think you are bad at hunting, but you are proud of your accomplishment, and you don't mind you only shot one thing, because leading up to the kill, you had an adventure of a life time. They may have earned several points for all their kills, but you, have received points for your one kill, but your awesome adventure as well.

And before you know it, you have hit the time in your life where you start to look at colleges. Your peers may be focused on some big Division I school to advance their athletic and academic careers. But you on the other hand may be looking at a small Division III school. Or perhaps, you're right between all of that. But as long as you've picked a school that makes you happy, and you see yourself earning points for your life there, and you see yourself having a good shot of winning the game, that's all that matters.

No matter what, life will give you games that may seem impossible to be the winner, yet you end up doing the impossible. Life will give you the games that you were winning by a landslide, but, the other team ended up pulling through. It will also give you the games where you and your opponent are neck and neck, some you may win, and some you may lose.That's life. And with that, how you handle your losses shows a great deal of your character as a person, and how you moved past them is an ever greater deal.

And at the end of your career, it doesn't matter how many games you won, or lost, or how often you beat your own numbers, it matter what kind of life you lived, what kind of career you had without the numbers and that you know that you will be passing away a winner.