I really want to like golfing.
I am a nature lover, and golf courses are so beautiful, peaceful and well loved… I could easily spend every day on a golf course and not complain.
But, I haven’t golfed in years. The last time I golfed, I was in tears on the 4th tee box.
I was terrified to be perceived as a loser. My self esteem really couldn’t handle it. So when it was pointed out to me how terrible I was, by someone else, on the 4th tee box that day, my tears flowed freely and I gave up with fight.
The fight I gave up that day was golf, but golf itself was not the problem. My inner struggle was.
It would be quite a few years later before I figured this one out.
The thing about golf, and all sports, and life really, is, the harder you try to not be a loser, the worse things get.
What matters the most, is the space you are coming from.
When I questioned my definition of a loser, I realized there is no such thing. You are not a loser because you haven’t learned the skills yet. You are simply a beginner.
There is a huge difference between being a beginner, and being a loser. But the difference comes only from perception.
The truth is, we are all beginners, and we are beginners much more often than we are ever experts.
When you see yourself as a loser, there is no hope. There’s just a life sentence of losing, and tears on the 4th tee box.
No one deserves that.
But when you see yourself as a beginner, everything changes. Life is full of hope and the chance to become better. You get a life sentence of learning.
It’s your choice how you see yourself.