Running Your Own Race

I have never been a competitive person. At least I have never been comfortable with the feelings that arise in me when in competition with others. Or is that I just don’t enjoy losing? Does anybody? Wouldn’t that be weird? Maybe I am competitive after all, but just don’t like to admit it? Four sentences in a row that end with a question mark. Food for thought. 

Calling someone a ‘loser’ has become an insult in modern day parlance, yet, in a race, for every winner, there are multiple losers. Losing (or failing) can be a painful experience, hence the heated debate at many a primary school sports day about whether to make the event a non-competitive one. Some would argue that learning about losing is vital. However, in the immediate aftermath of losing, being told ‘it’s the taking part that counts’ can feel like a slap in the face with a wet fish. How often have you heard a bereft elite athlete explain in a post-race interview they didn’t train hard all year for a silver medal?

Some years ago I spent the day at Studland Beach in Dorset with my family. Moored close to the shore was a splendid red speedboat. I know nothing about boats, but it was a lovely craft, and no doubt cost a few quid. The interesting thing, though, was not it’s beauty or value, but its name. In place of an actual boat-type moniker, there was a slogan. Get this!

“He who dies with the most toys wins.”

It was only now, when writing this, I learned, through Google, that the phrase is attributed to Malcolm Forbes, the magazine publisher and famous collector of lavish items.

The whole day passed, and the owner of the boat never appeared but I felt their choice of slogan told me at least something about them. Allow me to share my assumptions. I imagined the unseen owner to be a highly competitive man whose self-worth was deeply rooted in the acquisition of conspicuous wealth and having more than others was what it meant to ‘win’, even at the point of death. I doubt I would enjoy this man’s company. In the ‘fool of the year’ contest, he would be way ahead of the competition. Many of us will be familiar with the biblical teaching that we leave this world with nothing and yet, still, we strive for worldly success.

Despite my misgivings about this type of ugly competitiveness, a healthy desire to do our best and succeed is a good thing. From time to time, I have entered writing competitions, and these have renewed my focus and provided an incentive to reach a deadline and submit my best work. To date, I have got nowhere close to a long list, let alone a short one, but I have learned from the feedback and competitions are a rare avenue for deserving newcomers to be discovered in a crowded market. When I see the quality of the winning entries, I can only admire their talent and resolve to improve.

When anyone in our house ‘loses’ my daughters always say, ‘don’t worry, you were running your own race’. We always laugh at that, but I believe that ‘running our own race’ is a biblical truth. God does not pitch us against each other. Our success, or lack of it, isn’t compared with anyone else’s, and we are all able to cross the finishing line of our unique race. The key is perseverance rather than speed.

Are you discouraged by lack of success (however you define it) with your writing or in some other part of your life? Are you watching others race past you? Maybe you’re questioning your decision to be a writer because it’s a slog with no apparent purpose or finishing line in sight? You are in good company. We may be a community of like-minded folk with the same interests, but our winding paths are different. Some of us are doing the egg and spoon whilst others are in the Formula One grand prix. Most of the time you’ll see me going the wrong way round the track altogether, but that’s okay because I’m running my own race, remember? I might even stop to pick up your egg. 

“Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” Hebrews ch. 12 v.1.