Our dear little tortoise wasn't bothered about his win. He probably knew he had a very less or negligible chance of winning. But that did not stop him from trying.
Giving his best mattered.
So often we give up on a dream, because we are bothered about the outcome.
I might not get it, so why try?
We stand a better chance at winning if only we have a mindset to enjoy the journey, enjoy the experience.
When we feel the outcome might be negative, we back off because our self worth is attached with our sense of success or failure.
When our self worth in more about how we see ourselves rather than how others see us, we can truly enjoy doing what we do.
We get into the game for the joy of it, for the new experience that it will make, for the new skills that we will pick up, or for the better person who we might become during the process.
A stack of such life experiences will eventually lead us to a place where we win.
A well known saying is - 'it is better to have loved and lost, than never loved at all.'
We can change it to say that it is better to have pursued our dreams than never tried at all.
John B Bejo said, "Detachment is an art of enjoying something while always being open to the possibility of losing it someday."
Ron W Rathbun said, "True detachment isn’t separation from life but the absolute freedom within your mind to explore living.”
How can we attain this detachment?
We need to introspect where our self-worth comes from. When that is attached to external things, then the result or the outcome of the event will bother us. If not, then we are free to live and explore life in all its colours. Success or failure, defeat or victory, acceptance or rejection will no longer stop us. Life can then be truly lived and enjoyed.
And the bonus? The tortoise actually won the race.
The dream that you are giving up on may just be fulfilled if you can detach yourself and give all your best.
You might end up with the biggest surprise of your life.
