Is Competition Good For Us?
Let's face it, COMPETITION is NOT just about structured games and events. In fact, it transpires any time an individual pitches his skills against one another. Social Scientists opine as well that COMPETITION is a SOCIAL PROCESS. As a child, how we interact and interpret COMPETITION depends on the changes that they are going through. So, Is Competition Good For Us❓❓❓So, let's be even-keel here. Let's look at the pluses and minuses of COMPETITION. For the upsides, COMPETITION embodies PLAY and PLAY is perhaps the greatest setting for learning social skills and integration. Then, obviously COMPETITION is exciting and it fosters cooperation. In this age of the social media and evolving individualism, time spent interacting and communicating with others is waning and reducing💊💊💊However, our ability to work with others to achieve a common goal is an essential skill to develop, NOT only in sport but in life. COMPETITION allows us to learn patterns of social cooperation without exceeding critical limits of aggression. As a bonus, COMPETITION develops our emotional control. With appropriate instruction, COMPETITION encourages us to reflect on our behavior under emotionally intense situations and develop that strong emotional intelligence📌📌📌However, we got to be wary of the downsides of COMPETITION as well. First off, COMPETITION seems to harbor hostility and aggression. We have seen and heard in the news many times when seemingly healthy basketball games ended up in a brawl, even in the NBA, even in the FIBA world championships. It's like that attitude of WINNING AT ALL COSTS gets developed and that even leads to aggression and at worse, cheating creeps in. And from a first person perspective, COMPETITION is 'ego deflating' and this is due to the fact when SUCCESS is measured solely on the COMPETITION outcome [which should NOT be the case]❌❌❌Since COMPETTTION can deliver both positive and negative experiences [although this is dependent on the prevailing environment], the question staring in our face is: WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? Simple. Let's widen our perspective and understand that great COMPETITION happens at or sometimes above our own ability and that great COMPETITION is focused as it will reveal one's strength and weakness for us to fix✅✅✅