Learning from Setbacks

"The road to success is not straight. There is a curve called Failure, a loop called Confusion, speed bumps called Challenges, red lights called Enemies, caution lights called Friends. You will have flats called Jobs. But, if you have a spare called Determination, an engine called Perseverance, insurance called Faith, and a driver called You, you will make it to a place called Success."

We did not make it through the semi-finals on 30 Jun 2007. On both heats, we were lagging behind quite a number of boats from the other teams. I don’t dare count how many. I asked myself, “What did I learn about myself? What did I learn about those around me? What did I learn about performing in stressful circumstances? What did I learn about that can help me in the future?” We have a lot to work on our fitness level, including my own. We have a lot to work on our coordination, rapport, mental and physical strength.

We tend to be most susceptible to feeling down when we expect to do well and do poorly instead, when we expect to win and we lose, when we expect love or acceptance and experience rejection. In such cases, sometimes our expectations have been unrealistic; sometimes we have not prepared or focused as well as we could have, and we can work on this. Sometimes we have done everything in our power to make things happen given the constraints of our time and resources and events do not go as we hoped or planned.

Loss can make us feel miserable, inadequate or helpless. But it can also challenge us to draw upon our strengths, persist through obstacles, get to know ourselves better, examine our priorities, put things in perspective and reflect on where we are going, why and how.

The route to excellence is full of ups and downs, progressions and regressions, great leaps forward, backslides and plateaus. But as long as the overall direction is up, we will ascend our many mountains in life, ride many waves in dragonboating. The better we can cope, the more fulfilled we will be. Finding the lessons in loss is a way of putting us back in control. So, Regatta, here we come!