A Case For Losing.

Losing hurts. It’s one of the loneliness feelings no amount of words or actions can console. Every worst fear comes alive in those moments of defeat and disappointment. Despite all outside efforts and self soothing, all one can hear echo through their mind are two words: “I lost”.

Nothing reveals that sort of pain like fighting. It’s guaranteed that each person has a 50% chance of walking away the loser. Many times do we seldom find failure as something we accept with open arms. We can lean on countless (and almost nauseating) inspirational quotes touting that falling down is necessary for our ascent to personal growth, yet many slinging these adages have experienced a true bruising of one’s ego in such a public fashion.

As inclined as we feel to curate images of success, we often overlook that nothing is more terrifying than a person who has dealt with failure. For after those moments of rejection fade away comes a period where one rises with more conviction to be a better version of them. They figuratively get a chance to shed and let die their past self through the lessons provided through losing. For the lucky who learn, they realize failure doesn’t define their self worth. Both frightening and powerful is someone who truly has nothing to lose.