Yoga May Not Be a Competition, But This Fitbit Sure the Hell Is!

I hate to admit it, but I am competitive. Really competitive. Probably the most competitive woman you’ll ever meet. (See what I mean??)

There are actually friends and family who won’t play games with me – not because I’m a sore loser, but because I’m a really sucky winner. I have to win. And I only play games I will win at.

I have a history of quitting before failure in my past. I would walk away if winning was not in sight. Being comfortable with losing — which, for me, equated to anything that was not winning — was something that took a long time for me to come to terms with. I could do my best and come in second in anything and I still felt failure.

I thought I had come to terms with my competitive nature over the years. Yoga has been a wonderful teacher for this; coaching others and watching their growth provided valuable lessons; and trying new things and not being the best at them moved me through that discomfort that I had been trying to avoid all those years.

Then I gave my husband a Fitbit.

I’ve been using one off and on for the last year or so and gradually watched my steps grow day by day. I was proud of myself. I started off mostly sedentary, and had moved up to 5,000 steps a day consistently, even just staying in the house (we have a tri-level).

Then hubby showed me his 20,000 steps for the day. That is a normal day for him. He’s on multiple job sites, has two brick-and-mortar businesses he checks in on, goes hiking whenever he can, and just loves to be outside walking.

I was conflicted. I wanted to beat him in steps, and I wanted to actually beat him. Mr. Rinaldi is a hummingbird, he is in constant motion. This is who he is. But now I was beginning to see an ugly side of him; he was thriving on beating me. He was gloating at the end of the day when he quadrupled or quintupled my steps. It was really starting to piss me off.

So here’s where I had to make some choices and admit defeat, or embrace my competitive nature. I’m happy to report I’ve added back into my daily schedule a 2 to 3 mile walk with my dog. I’m probably never going to beat him, but now I’m in competition with me again.

Well played, Mr. Rinaldi. Well played.

We don’t want to fight our bodies. We want to love them.

Listen in: http://bit.ly/lijl072914mp3

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