Competition

The rush of the win.

The pride in the effort and work.

The respect and relationships forged.

In games, or athletics, or even in certain life goals, the aspects of competition seem to fill my life.

This is probably the result of both the environment as well as my genetic coding that I am a 'competitive' person.

It started when I was a young child, I remember playing games of 'memory' where you flip the cards and then must match with a corresponding matching card. While I was happy to win, I would become devastated at losing.  I hated it.  I would cry and sob that I lost.  

As I became older, I found that I had a pretty good aptitude for athletics and as I joined sports teams, I enjoyed rising through the ranks based on skill and not politics (for the most part.)

Every sport I started to play I was bad at to start.  In fact I remember I hated basketball at a young age because I couldn't get the ball all the way to the rim.

Now, as I go through my adult life, I attempt to guide my competitive nature to more contemporary goals such as savings and workouts.  While the rewards change the spirit and enjoyment of the process thankfully remain.