"Whether you're winning or losing,it's
important to always be yourself. You can't change
because
of the circumstances around you".
If
I can be myself, it won't matter to me a bit whether I'm
winning or losing or doing well or poorly. If I'm
myself I'll accept all the situations and circumstances of
my life with equanimity, realizing that as long as I'm
doing my best and following my heart, even supposed losing
situations are full of valuable lessons for me.
We
put a lot of emphasis on winning. And when we don't
win, we often see it as a reflection of there being
something wrong with us. And win or lose, we often
don't act ourselves when we see the results. As
winners, we're not always gracious, focusing more on our
victory than on things like gratitude for being able to
win or for the competition our opponents have
provided. As losers, we often feel anger towards
ourselves, or we act as "poor losers," making
excuses for our loss or blaming the opponents for
competing unfairly.
"You
can't change because of the circumstances around
you." If you do, you're allowing outside
circumstances to control who you are and how you act, and
that never can be healthy. You were created as a
wonderful human being, but the moment that you start
acting in inauthentic ways, you're lessening yourself and
your gifts in life. You are who you are--be proud
enough of that to honor it by remaining who you are,
through thick and thin, through all things that you may go
through. And when you honor yourself that way,
you're honoring your creator, too, with the knowledge that
you're perfectly satisfied with yourself the way you were
created. And which of us shouldn't be proud of that?
To
be nobody-but-yourself--in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else--means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.
