In my CrossFit gym, I am typically at the bottom of the leaderboard. In any workout that requires a certain number of rounds for time, I am almost always the last one to finish.
I have a competitive nature, and it can be demoralizing to rank at the bottom even on my best days, even in the workouts that favor my strengths.
Perhaps in a different gym I might rank higher. That would be a boost to my ego, but I probably wouldn’t like it as much.
The coaches and community at my gym are encouraging of me in my goals. They support me and cheer me on. They celebrate me for my accomplishments.
And they inspire me to push myself harder, to play full out, and to continue to improve.
Competition often gets a bad rap, especially in more spiritual circles.
But competition is misunderstood.
The origins of the word “competition” mean “to seek together.”
I’m not competing against anyone else—not even my past self. I’m competing with the other members of the community.
We compete against the workouts. We strive, together, to be better than we were yesterday or last week. We lift each other up.
Community and competition have the same prefix — the “com” means it’s a group effort. It’s communal.
My growth journey in CrossFit has been in my learning to accept myself where I am, and to channel my competitive spirit to competing with others against the workout.
In true competition, we all win when we’re in it together.
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