In the 2016 Copa America final, Lionel Messi missed a penalty kick in the penalty shootout that would decide who would win the tournament between the Argentine and Chilean national teams. That ended up being a decisive factor in Argentina’s defeat and Chile’s victory. All the pressure in the world was on Lionel Messi, proclaimed by many to be the best player of his generation and proclaimed by many the greatest of all time. He has a full trophy cabinet from his successful career at FC Barcelona. However, he had yet to win a major tournament for his country, Argentina. Because of that, everyone has their doubts and questions about Messi’s place in history. Those doubts and questions grew after the defeat, and he was inconsolable.
But that's life. We aren't on stages as big as Messi or other athletes, but so much of our life is affected by expectations. Expectations of ourselves and others. We don't want to let ourselves or anyone else down. Will people like me? How will I be remembered? Have I done well in my life? Am I living up to my potential, or will I be a disappointment? These are just a few of the questions that haunt each and every one of us. They are answered when we succeed, but they are reminded to us when we do not. But is it fair for us to be subject to them? What did we do to deserve that? We are human, after all. Nobody is perfect. By definition of our humanity and biology we aren't perfect.
If we all learn from this game and from Lionel Messi, we can accept that it's OK to lose sometimes. Because you can't always succeed. That's not necessarily a bad thing either. You learn more from defeats than victories. I recently wrote about how students shouldn't let their GPA define who they are or their intelligence level. When we get A’s, we forget about any sort of luck or other factors that might've been the difference between an A or B or C. But when we don't get all the grades we want, such as this past quarter for me where I did well but not quite my goals, it's easier to pick out and reflect instances where I could have done things differently.
Instead of being reactive, it would be ideal to constantly be in a state of growing and learning. The truth is we are, but we try to deny it. We are adults now. We like to think we know what we are doing and we always make the best decision. That our instinct alone is enough to accomplish anything we set our mind to. But if we accept our limitations and open ourselves up to live and learn and just do our absolute best, then possibilities open up and we’ll be fine.
I would tell Lionel Messi what I would tell anyone else when they know they messed up after feeling a huge weight of pressure on their shoulders: Don't let it get to you. What's most important is you know what you have accomplished and what you are capable of. It is up to you how you see yourself as a success. Never give up and make sure you do your absolute best in everything you do. When you're not afraid to fail, you'll be pleased with the results.
