Win or Lose

Sometimes our biggest victories lay

within our biggest losses.

This is where our courage and love shine

beyond any trophy.

It is what we gain from our losses that
is our real victory in the end.

-Jennifer-

Last night I was sitting watching my seven year old nephew play in his baseball finals.  His team had been gaining momentum with win after win all week.  This game proved to be no different until about midway through, when the other team had hit after hit scoring a massive lead.  Although my nephew's team never gave up, you could see the panic in every play of watching victory slip through their hands.

They eventually did lose the game.  Watching these young boys play their hearts out to the point that this loss brought them to tears got me to start thinking.  This was their first significant loss.  Their first memorable disappointment in life.  And when I look back as an adult, I can still remember mine like it was yesterday.  Seeing my nephew last night brought back all of those emotions.  My heart went out to him and his teammates because at the age of seven, losing feels like your world is crumbling.  You feel like nothing else matters and every color in your world has just turned to gray. You don't understand how you could want something so badly and not get it in the end. You feel that you were cheated out of a victory that you worked so hard for.

As I saw the loss approaching I realized how vital a lesson this is in life.  And to learn the importance of losing at a young age can make the difference in how you react to things the rest of your life.  The thing I've grown to love about team sports especially for young kids, is the lesson of teamsmanship.  Win or lose your team holds you up, lifts you up when you're down and is there for you no matter what.  You are in it together.  It is a giant community of friendship and support.

Now these are small kids being exposed to this lesson very early on.  You can be a sore loser, a poor sport or you can choose to brush yourself off when things get hard and prepare yourself for the next challenge and to play even harder the next time.  Can you imagine what life really would be if we never got this lesson?  To learn how to work as a team and to remember to just have fun with it?  As an adult, that would lead to a pretty miserable and bitter existence if this lesson wasn't understood.

A yoga instructor told a story about being in the middle of a coorporate meeting when one of the men stood up, stomped out of the room and began to thrash his fists in the air yelling incomprehensibly.  His supervisor went out after him and said, "Hey, remember rule number six!"  Immediately, the other man said, "You're right I totally forgot. My apologies."  He took a deep breath and gathered himself.  Now what is rule number six you might ask?  Rule number six is, don't take yourself so seriously.  Remember to have fun!

We've all had moments of letting emotion get the best of us.  Especially in those moments where we've really put our hearts on the line, gave it our all and realized not that it wasn't good enough, but it just wasn't our time.  Any time we put our hearts on the line it is always good enough!  But when it comes to wins and victories the simple rule of the Universe is if it is your time, then it will be.  Just as long as we follow Universal code as I call it, when we learn to be led in life and remember to breath and listen to the call, we never really fall short.

We can take a lesson from these little guys as they poured their hearts out in every play. The lesson is that in every play in life, win or lose we are held and loved no matter what.  We are all meant to shine in our own perfect moments.  They may not be right now.  But with every loss realize we are in our preparation for greatness. And when it is our time, we will shine so greatly that we each will hold the record for most wins because we never really lose if we never give up in the first place.  We just have to keep our eye on the prize and keep going.  And within our own momentum we will always meet vicory at the finish line.

What have you gained from your losses in life?  Share with us we would love to hear from you!

As always with love,

Jennifer

Follow me on Twitter @jfremion.

Email me at jfremionfw@gmail.com.

©2013. Jennifer Fremion. All rights reserved.