Second Place

If you are not in first place you are last! Again this is perception, it all depends who you ask. When our oldest first attended school, my husband took her to school one morning, he was chuckling when he got home. I was intrigued on what the joke was. He told the story of these three little boys sprinting across the schoolyard to race to the wall. The first boy arrived, calling out that he was first, followed by the next one declaring second, the last one rolled up and exclaimed third!! There is no last place and that is how it should be! People can become very smitten about placement. I think it is something that is instilled, those particular children were quite young. Older kids become irate at the possibility of losing. I am always telling them, it is not for the gold or a million dollars and it will not matter in a week!

Would should we be teaching our kids to strive for? Perfection isn’t it, and more important how do we show it in our own lives? Screaming at sports teams? Searching the mirror for flaws? Going to the salon for changes we whisper about that mask our insecurities, that give us that youthful edge? Reading labels and ruling out foods that add the layers?? Promoting health is different than glorifying perfection, or is it? What truly is important? You can try and fight all of it, but it will find you, it has more to do with genes. What do you think you are avoiding? Loneliness? Divorce? Exclusion? Self worth? People that gravitate to just the perfect are shallow, they are not true friends! Friends lift you, they carry you over hurdles!

Do you think you are avoiding death? A life is not complete without death, a very smart someone told me that. How about strive for happiness. Try for acceptance not only for yourself but others, no judgements. Put blinders on and just look for someone’s heart, what do they actually bring to the table? How do they make you feel? Happiness, kindness these are the things that are staples. These are the things people will remember. Do you think at 85 you are gonna sit and chat about the days when you spent a decade chasing elusive chin hairs, and trying to starve yourself into a size four?? No, it will be about the times you laughed, it will be about the firsts and the lasts, it will be about the people that always made you feel good or loved. Money, looks is just a nope! A good long life that is what leaves the world in a better state! I’ll take third!