So far, by God's grace

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Run the Race

Very often, Life has been compared to a race.  Some call it the 'rat-race'. I've always hated that term. Calling life a race makes us competitors. It means we are always trying to outsmart the people around us. It makes us seem like cunning, conniving creatures all set to do anything to place first. The race itself doesn't seem like fun. 

Now contrast that idea with this picture - 

Nanma at her school's sports day.  Running the obstacle race. 

The previous year, she had been so disctracted by the kids around her, she was nowhere near the first few.  Ashwin used to be good at sports but I was the exact opposite.  We didn't know who she took after, but we told her to do her best, have fun and focus only on the finish line. 

What do you know, our darling daughter did just that and finished first!!  Never having one any race in my life, I was thrilled to bits! My eyes filled up and I yelled a choked up "Yayyyy Nanmaaaaaa!!!" Then the thoughts came... "Did I force her? Did she feel pressured to win?" 

We asked her and she said she knew what she had to do, she had practiced, so she just looked at the finish line and had fun running!! Look at this picture - She looks calm,  confident and happy!

Profound huh?? It was, for me at least!

Maybe a race could be fun . . . if I focused on what lay at the end of it and had fun along the journey!

1 comment:

  1. "Conscientious individuals may update about their children for purposes other than communicating with their friends," the researcher said. "Perhaps such updates reflect an indirect form of competitive parenting." via LinkedIn

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