Got your attention, didn’t I?

On a scale of one to ten, how competitive would you rate yourself? I’ll let you ponder on that for a moment but I’m guessing by the fact you booked a City Challenge experience that it’s a pretty high number and you have some kind of innate competitive side to your personality.

So do I. 

Competition is a proven natural trait of evolution. Living organisms must compete for limited resources. Yet, take life and death out of it, and some of us can literally turn ANYTHING into a competition, and yes that most certainly describes me. Now, I am not about to tell you I am a retired Olympian, or highly accomplished in anything at all, come to mention it, I am just a regular 39-year-old (stubborn) female, living in Brisbane. But, enter me into a team event, a competition, tell me I cannot do something, or just try and beat me to the front door and I turn into a challenge beast (don’t mess with a redhead who thinks she was destined to be the female equivalent of Rocky Balboa).

(I’m not kidding! Here I am lighting the ‘best’ campfire and at the top of my idol’s steps in Philadelphia, USA.)

I did question recently, as I am ‘maturing’, whether my inner competitive streak has calmed down a little. But as I sit before you, I am nursing some impressive blisters after just seven days competing in the office ‘Step-tember Challenge’. A whopping 202,282 steps (yep, you read correctly) and a ‘silver medal’ later, I am not proud to admit that I’m a little salty. Ok, I admit it…I am raging.

SILVER?! The only prize at stake was a meal voucher for the winning team. Was it really though? No. It was VICTORY at stake! To win. To be the best team. To gain office bragging rights and be hailed gladiators of the stepping world. So, in case it is not already obvious, I am still far from ‘maturing’ and not getting over this defeat quickly.

Having spoken to colleagues from other losing teams, I’m clearly not alone. Conversations amongst keen steppers all hit a similar tone... ‘Is team member ‘Z’ actually syncing their steps?’, ‘Surely, team member ‘Y’ hasn’t only done 2,456 steps in two days?’, ‘Do they know there is a free dinner up for grabs?’, ‘What is our strategy to take down Hot Steppers?’ ‘We have to win this!!’ Anyone would think the Brisbane 2032 Olympics had come early. 

To give you a little more context, let me disclose to you that I nearly always lose so this near miss cut me deep. Hopefully, you already appreciate that I do not take myself too seriously (!) yet, I pose to you, dear reader, another interesting question; why are some of us ultra-competitive and determined to relish every challenge, whilst others are happy cruising along in the ‘take it easy’ lane? For the record, I don’t think there is a right or wrong here, (unless you were one of my ‘Steptember’ teammates, of course).

The truth is, life is a competition. Ultimately, every day presents a challenge. But these challenges are different for each of us. If you are keen on psychology and the clever science behind why we are all different, there has been endless research on why we feel varying levels of competitiveness. How we were brought up, by whom and where, whether we played sports as a young child, the level of resources we were surrounded by, who we were and still are surrounded by. I could go on. These factors all contribute to why and how we compete. I think for many of us though, and this ring true to my competitive streak, it really is about being in competition with ourselves.

Surely that can only be a good thing? 

I mentioned before that I’m no rockstar athlete, and yet I have countless 10km and half marathon medals, one marathon medal, and one 50km ultra-marathon medal. Impressive right?! I have also flown to islands, driven for over nine hours to reach isolated events, lost all ten of my toe-nails, and spent months in physiotherapy post-events.

But, I hate running.

“WAIT, WHAT?” I hear you ask. It is true. I really do not like running. “Why, then?” I also hear you ask. Because I can. Because I want to compete against myself. Because I want to challenge myself. Because I would rather come last as opposed to not crossing the start line at all. I wasn’t lying when I said I always lose. I lose at bowling. I lose at board games. I most certainly have never finished in the first half of any run I have ever entered. But I have never shied away from the challenge. No excuses. This is what I always try and live by. Doing is different to talking or dreaming. So do I really lose? 

How many of us prefer to stay in our comfort zone? All of us, of course. It is a wonderful place to be. It is where we feel safe and inherently where our brain tells us we should stay. However, if we allow ourselves to consider the more scary zones, look at the benefits.

I have concentrated on my journey in this blog, a lot of which includes running. However, challenging ourselves is about being on your own journey. Challenge and competition are two clearly defined subjects. Challenges to set ourselves can be very small. Setting your alarm 30 minutes earlier each day to have some ‘you time’. Eating or cooking something adventurous once a week. Going to the movies by yourself. These might not be much of a challenge to some people, but does that matter? If you want to run a 10km, run it. If you want to read an extra book a month, read it. If you want to start a new language, learn it. I’m a firm believer that the only person who blocks us is us. Whether you are annoyingly competitive like me, or not, we can all step up to a challenge.  

Just for the record, I have not run in almost a year now. I am now strength training instead. I sometimes think it is a curse to be ‘a chaser’ in life, and then I stop myself. It keeps me pushing, striving, and giving myself the courage to be the best version of myself. Jokes aside, it is never about winning or losing, it is about being in the race. So, what are you waiting for, Challenge Beast? Go challenge!!