There is a feeling you get when you’re sick that the world is passing you by. As you rest in your cave, doing your best to survive. Everybody else goes about their day as if you don’t exist; the world keeps turning. A part of you wishes you could turn with the world, but you know that, unfortunately, your body won’t allow it. You sit looking out the window as cars drive down the road. The delivery women and men of the world are running around delivering merry unbirthday presents to everyone and their mother. The bus drivers are shuttling passengers to and from work, or wherever else they may be going. The cyclists are pedaling hard up and down the hills of the city, all while you wallow in ailment as your body heals.
Nothing is Going to Stop for You
It’s not a very pleasant feeling, sitting at home while the world goes by. There is an important lesson that you can learn from this, nothing’s gonna stop for you. Just because you can’t keep going doesn’t mean anybody else will sympathize. In fact, some people will take advantage of that. I don’t mean to say that people in this world are ruthless, but I do mean to say that just as you will take any opportunity you can to get ahead, so will others. That opportunity may just be the fact that you are still.
Competitive Examples
I really enjoy bike racing, and one of the greatest controversies in racing is attacking the leader when they have a mechanical or some incident on the road. It’s common courtesy to slow down to wait for them, to not attack when they’re working through their unfortunate misgivings. Not always is that rule followed, and when it is not, the announcers, the peloton, the groups of riders make up their mind as to whether or not that is an acceptable or unacceptable attack. They say, “all’s fair in love and war.” I tend to disagree. There’s a fine line between sportsmanship and gamesmanship. To beat somebody on a level playing field is more important than to beat somebody at all, in my opinion.
The same thing occurs in business all the time. Entrepreneurs, businessmen, executives—they all have an ounce of brutality. They all exhibit moments of ruthlessness, often, that is how they have gotten to where they are now. I’m not saying those people are bad people, but doesn’t it make winning feel a bit less earned when it wasn’t a fair fight? Doesn’t it seem like you didn’t really deserve the victory when your opponent was unable to be of competition at that moment?
Cooperative Examples
Beyond competitive endeavors as well, this concept exists in cooperative endeavors as well. If your teammate fell ill, and you lost the game, would you blame it on them? Or would you blame it on the other team for not going easy or relenting? Hell, even postponing the match until your under-the-weather star player was back above the weather?
Make Your Call and Stick to It
Thing is, it’s always going to be true that the world won’t stop for you. You have to make a decision as to whether or not you’re gonna play through it, or if you’re going to take the loss and move on. You may still lose even if you do play through it. Some part of me says that the situation you find yourself in where you need to make that decision will dictate what the response will be. Another part says you should be steadfast in your opinion. Your decision should be the same for most every situation, as a fundamental. I don’t really know if there’s a right or wrong answer or decision here. But there is a decision to be made regardless. I just don’t know which one’s right.
It is difficult, however, regardless, to watch the world pass you by. To know that you’re missing out, that you’re falling behind. You know you’re gonna have to catch up once you feel better, that you’ll be disadvantaged. Knowingly accepting disadvantages is not easy, but it’s the price to pay for growth and recovery. You have to budget for it, buffer your plans for the inevitability that you’ll be affected by something outside of your control. You have to respect the fact that you can’t be on top of your game for all the time in which you play. Inevitably, you will falter, and someone will do what they can to seize upon that moment as their own opportunity.
All you can do in those moments is make your decision, stick to it, acknowledge and understand the impacts of it, and continue on fighting when you’re able. Not allow that lapse to affect you so greatly as to hinder your progression in the grand scheme of things. You may lose a battle, but you ought not to let that battle turn into the loss of the war. Even though “all’s fair in love and war,” as they say, just because you lose one battle doesn’t mean you lose one war. Don’t let that moment turn into something more than a moment. Come out of it stronger, more dedicated. Fight harder to get back to your position on top. You can’t come out of it fighting the same way that you were before; you need to come out stronger. Take back what is rightfully yours, show them that you deserve it. Prove yourself to yourself and others that you were the greatest all along, that nothing can keep you down forever. You’re a champion, always have been. Even champions need to take a break every once in a while; even champions get affected by things that are out of their control. Nobody has complete control over life. To understand that challenges are inevitable, to respect and overcome the obstacle when it happens, is the sign of a real champion. Wait not when at rest or working through the struggle of life, for a moment lost could be a moment gained. Let not that moment go by unseized. If you’re unable to fight your fight, plan for the next. Work to understand what it’s going to take to come back fighting stronger, then when the moment occurs you are better, go after it.
Treadmill of Life
I will say, this feeling of the world passing you by is not unique to times when you are sick. The world is always passing you by. In a way, you are on a constantly moving treadmill. The moment you slip, you’re getting your ass yeeted off the back end. Shit, sometimes it’s not even you tripping, sometimes the speed just starts ramping up faster than you can run and you fall behind. If you don’t figure out how to run faster in that moment you’ll inevitably fall off the back and may have an incredibly hard time getting back on. Keep up or fall off. When you fall off, get stronger so you can hop back on and not eat shit right away.