The struggle does not have to be a struggle.

The struggle does not have to be a struggle.

As I prepared to watch the Superbowl, I watched with new eyes, from a completely new perspective, from a new mindset.

Before, I would have made my choice. MY winning team, therefore I would win. And would then set out to make sure THAT team, that MY team won.

Woe to them, to me, if MY team, had failed to measure up to their, to my expectations and lost the game.

How dare they?!

How dare they have the nerve to lose the game!! Didn’t they KNOW they played for me?! Didn’t they know, in winning, in being MY team, that I somehow, someway, won as well.

If THAT were true, that must mean that, now, I was a loser too!…*gasp*. I would mope and pout my way, for days, through comfort food, whining, complaining, stomping my way through days of unsportsmanlike conduct.

I forgot why I loved playing sports, why I loved watching sports so much: watching a group of folk, on BOTH sides of a contest, who had decided to come together, for a common purpose, all with the purpose to win the game, win the match, win the contest.

The field of battle mattered little. What mattered, was the coming together of like minds, with one goal, in mind. No competing interests. Without jealous, without strife. Just two sides, meeting in the middle, hashing out the final tally, the final outcome, with all the talent, hopes, aspiration, perspiration, perspective and effort that each participant could and would muster.

The ultimate outcome was to overcome adversity, from the other side, from their own side, from their own insides.

Adversity overcome, fear would come next. Next to test each side, each inside, to make both sides question why they set out to try. To win. In trying, each side conquered their fear.

Fear vanquished, all that was left to determine was the final side, the final score, to find who would lift the hardware at hard work’s end.

Ironically, after conquering adversity, after overcoming fear, in coming together, on one accord, towards a common end, BOTH sides ended up winning. The trophy 🏆 turned out to be icing, not the cake 🎂.

This year, I remembered why I loved the game. I did not pick a side. Sides, did not matter. The final score, did not matter.

I now understood that the struggle did not have to be a struggle. The contest could/would be contested but did not have to be a confrontational. Yes, each side were, in fact, opponents. Yet, each were good, of heart. They were opponents, not enemies. They were in opposition, to the game, not to each other.

Once, game ended, each side shook hands, embraced one another, grateful for the opportunity to try, to win, to achieve the desired result.

Over the course of my life, I have learned the best moments are in the after: After, the loss. After, the win. After, the try. After, the trial. After, the tears. After, the laughs.

In the after, in the aftermath, both sides, having realized all had won something, had won different things, in the contest, each came away with more than they had arrived with. How can that NOT be a win?

Today, I prepare to enjoy the game. Whose side am I on, you ask? Am on journey’s side. I have no idea where we shall end up. Who cares? He, cares. For, me. What else could I possibly need? I don’t need a side, a team, a set of circumstances to call myself a winner. In, being. In, being me, I have already won.

winning always,

Cassandra

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