We’ve
always been taught by our elders to put our best effort in everything we do,
and try our best to win everything we venture into. We’ve always been asked to
try our best to win, and we do it, naturally, because who likes to lose, right?
But
if you’ve been a spoiled sport like I was, or let’s say I ‘am’, you spent most
of your childhood listening to your parents’ instructions of accepting ‘losing’
in a good spirit. And if you’re one of those, you must be well-acquainted with
the worst feeling in the entire world, the feeling of losing!
The
thing is that there are two important virtues that one must possess – Losing
gracefully, and Winning gracefully. Yes, losing needs more courage than you
think. And yes, it is as important to win gracefully as it is to lose with
dignity. Do you know why? Let’s see it this way – Have you ever lost in a game
of Ludo? Remember how bad it felt when your opponent was dancing like mad in
front of you, provoking you and constantly making you feel bad because you
lost? Even though the game was all about your luck with the dice, the winner
reacted as if they won the world, as if they had won because of something they
had in control! I know Ludo was a small game, but you know what I mean, right?
The bottom-line is – One must learn to keep calm in situations where extreme
emotions can overshadow the spirit of the game.
Similarly
when you’re losing, you must not react in a way that spoils the spirit of the
game, or life, for that matter. The thing that your mother constantly kept
telling you – “Practise to accept failure and loss”, really meant something.
You will find that this one line helps you deal gracefully with quite a lot of
situations in life! It’s not just about that game of ludo,
it’s not just about that badminton tournament that you lost, and it’s not just
about those little childhood things. It’s about all that important stuff that
you go through in your everyday life, and about the big situations that come to
you in your professional life as well.
There’ll
be times when you’ll study hard, day and night, but someone else will top the
exams. There’ll be times when you’ll be good to everyone around you, but you’ll
still be called selfish. There’ll be times when you’ll do your best at a
project and the project, along with all credit, will still go to your colleague
who did practically nothing. These are things that are out of our control,
their results are not within our reach. Do you think reacting to them the way
we do will help? Do you think the way you used to throw away the carom men when
you lost helped you in any way? I think all it did was scare your friends away
from you. And a similar reaction will serve the same purpose today.
I
believe life is a game of carom. The way you react after losing a tournament is
very important. But the way you react after winning is even more important! Show
off is never loved by anyone, in any situation, not in a small game, not in
real-life, never. Nor is overreaction to a loss taken very well either. The
words “Accept losing gracefully”, “Smile when you lose”, and “Deal strongly
with your failures” really meant a lot, and now, after learning so much in
life, I know what’s the value of being that person who is untouched by the
glory of a win, and by the gloom of a loss! “Gum aur khushi mein fark na
mehsoos ho jahaan, main dil ko us mukaam pe laata chala gaya...” The
biggest win in your life will be when you reach THAT level, where you feel the
same in moments of happiness and in sadness, win and loss, where you can
control extreme emotions. Wish you luck! Have a happy Monday. Bonne Journée! J
