Expectations

In the world of competition, there is no A B C grading scale. There is no room in our world for "at least you tried your best" or "at least you won a medal".  In the world of competition, there is winning, and there is losing, and where there is losing, there is learning.  "At least you _____" doesn't count for anything unfortunately. There is no A B C grading scale.  This is pass or fail.  There is victory, or there is nothing.

I get it though.  When you are down, people want to pick you back up, so they say things like "you fought great", "at least you ______" because they want you to feel good.  But I don't want to feel good, I want to be a champion.  After a defeat or a setback, maybe you aren't supposed to feel good.  There are going to be a whole lot of failures, setbacks, and disappointments in between starting and success.  That's just the nature of the game.  But every defeat, every disappointment, and every setback is just another step closer to success.