Competition

​I decided this morning I wanted to consider competition.  It seems to be common today to give kids awards for everything.  I am all for building others up.  It is always good in my mind to make another feel good about themselves.  I do think though it does a dis-service not to point out if need be, that the world is competitive.  As they say, “it is a jungle out there.”
I don’t need to seek out others to pull me down.  I see it in stampedes.  Those on the bottom are used by those on the top.  Who I am is inconsequential, as is what I can do.  Being on top is what matters.
From a young age I was introduced to competition.  For marks, for friends, in sport.  I discovered at that point I was not the best.  There are people better than me.  There are also people who are worse at a particular thing than me.
The thing that really hit home for me today was how silly it is for me to be in competition with a person who may have five talents if I have one.  The most important thing for me is that I am good at what I have.  My aim is not to be better than another, but to be the best I can.
So often I hear the phrase “jack of all trades, master of none.”  That can be a good joke but sometimes it is true.  I have seen those who are multi-talented.  It is like the world is their oyster.  Unfortunately, they have so much and develop none.
Just like mankind treated the world like it had unlimited resources, sometimes talents are treated like there is no need to develop them now, as there is plenty of time.  Our time on this planet is a resource to, and it is finite.
The thing is, I am the only me (thank goodness for that I hear you say).  What others do with what they have is their responsibility.  My responsibility is to develop my talents.  It is up to me, and no one else.
It seems to me, one of the worst things I can do is to sell myself short.  Ok I may not have what another has, but I have what I have.  Sometimes my perceived inadequacy causes me to do nothing and bury my talent.  The thinking is “I cannot do that, so I’ll do nothing.”
That is not a very good excuse to me.  I have never met anyone who could do nothing.  I have met those who chose to do nothing, but never someone who could do nothing.  Those that chose to do nothing are pushed from pillar to post.  Everything is a reaction to an external stimulus.
But others it seems recognise their own abilities and no matter if they are many or few, make the most of what they have.  My greatest source of competition is myself.  I will always be better and worse than some, but that is neither here nor there.  I will never be better or worse than myself.
It seems to me that when I am in the right place at the right time, my life can be like a jigsaw piece and be a good fit.  It does not matter if I am only one jig saw piece, the picture is incomplete with out me.  I want to be a good fit.