Well the monthly “challenge” ended yesterday with quite
surprising results. I won! But did I really? At the beginning of the
competition I so wanted to win mainly because, well I like to win but also I
have a fear of cooking for people. It’s something I have done very little of
and a cooked meal was the prize...cooked of course by the 2nd place person. So for the first three weeks I constantly was on the move...hiking when time allowed and walking in the neighbourhoods more than I would have ever done without something driving me. However by the third week, knowing we were tied and my challenger was going hiking and walking while on holidays, I pretty much accepted my fate. It didn’t help matters that it rained the whole week here in town. I realized how competitive I was when I pulled a pair of what my mother used to call “puddle pants” and went out walking the neighbourhood in the rain. It really was much beyond what I needed to do (although I only won by only a few points so it was a good thing I did go out).
So once I accepted the fact that I would be second or maybe
even third I started to plan for it and thought of funny ways to honour my
friend who would win. I dreamed up a few items of embarrassment for him and was
all ready to begin implementing them. Rising at 1:30 am to check on his
downloaded points knowing how many I had, I was so surprised to see I had
sneaked by him and had won. I was also very surprised by my disappointment in
winning. Now I would not be able to put into action events that I thought were
funny. I also felt rather bad for winning because my friend really is more
physically active than I am and in much better physical shape. He is the one
who has brought out my desire to hike and be in nature, and if it wasn’t for his encouragement I would never have joined the gym two years ago and be in the physical
shape I am in. He has been a role model to me in many ways. He truly deserved
to win but he hadn’t because I had become over obsessed with the challenge and
done way more than I will ever do again. There should have been more balance. I
wonder now how my body will adjust as the physical activity lessens. It probably
will not be good.
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| Exploring with my "teacher" and buddy |
This challenge has taught me that winning isn’t everything,
it’s what we learn along the way. So many lessons were learned in this month
about myself, about my friend and about limits. It also taught me that
sometimes there is no joy in the win, although I must confess I have bragged to
every single person who knew about the challenge and I did it within hours of
winning. I was surprised actually that it didn’t show up on the local news J
I would like to think
that if this were to happen again I would handle it differently. I wouldn’t let
it control me and I could also be a more graceful winner or happily accept 2nd place. We really were all winners. We all got more exercise than ever, we spent hours outside in nature and saw many beautiful parts of creation, we shared laughs and we learned that even when our better sides aren’t showing we can still love one another.
Would I do it again if challenged? Probably. Would my friend do it again if he was challenged? Maybe.
Would his wife, who had to endure all of our negative behaviours and conversations allow it ...I certainly hope not... she, is very wise.
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| The soon to be chef, the wise one, and myself |
