I have spent at least half of my life in competition. At a very early age, I learned how to compete with myself. This taught me a great deal of self-discipline, and it helped me to improve my basketball skills daily. When I was older, this competition spilled over to other areas of my life. I competed in tennis, basketball, and I also competed academically.
Competition was a driving force in my life. I thrived on it, but not in an unhealthy way. I respected the competition. I loved competing against the best. Winning tough games was that much more satisfying, and losing tough games came with lessons which made us better. I have always believed that competition taught in a healthy way, is good for our children, and I believe they should learn how to work hard to win, and they should learn how to take a loss.
Sometimes a love for competition can make for a rough transition into adulthood, business, and life in general. People find themselves competing at work, as parents, friends, family; who is the best at all the things? What becomes lost is the idea of a team. Competition is nothing without teamwork, and often we jump into adulthood competing in all the wrong areas. We’ve forgotten about building up our team.
This has created the idea that we can do everything by ourselves. We’ve stopped taking help from the village. We want good teachers, but they shouldn’t be too involved. Don’t tell me how to raise my child. We want good mommy friends, but don’t discipline my kid. Don’t tell me how to raise my child. We continue to create this island in our lives, and then complain about exclusion. We then complain when things get hard, and no one shows up. We have created a society of people afraid to step on toes, and offer help where it wasn’t asked for.
This verse isn’t about all of us agreeing with everyone, all the time. It is about coming together. It is about harmony. Harmony cannot be done alone. We may not always do things in the same exact way, but we all play an important role. This is a lesson I recently learned in the handmade community; community over competition. We all have a common goal. We are all trying to grow, and we can’t do that by tearing each other down, or pushing others away. We can’t do it all by ourselves.
It is easy to get caught up in competition. I have gotten caught up in this too! My heart has fallen a bit, in frustration, when I’ve seen another artist get to an idea that I had, before I did. This is futile! I have learned that it is better to team up, than to cause conflict. It is better to accept help, offer advice, and cultivate a community of friends, than to make enemies.
As early as Genesis, when God created Eve, He did so saying, “Man should not be alone.” We weren’t designed to do it ourselves. We were meant for teamwork. Reach out to your church. Reach out to your friends, your family, even your competition, and get off your island.