BEING A LOSER IS EASY
The Richmond Tigers are in Grand Final for the second time in 3 years. For 35 years prior, we stank. We were the most unsuccessful club in the AFL from 1982 – 2016, and that includes Fitzroy!
Last Friday’s match versus the Cats was a ripper. They outplayed us in the first half and we were against the ropes. In the third quarter we managed to turn it around and found ourselves just ahead before the final quarter.
It was the most stressful game of football I have ever experienced.
I mentioned to my dad how much easier it was when we were a terrible, underperforming, rabble of a club that just made up the numbers. There was less pressure, less expectations, minimal hope. It never really mattered if we won or lost. Failure didn’t hurt so bad when it was the norm, how can you fail if you’ve never really succeeded right?
If you stay at the bottom you don’t have to work as hard, you don’t have many expectations to meet, you stay out of the spotlight, you don’t feel like you’re letting anyone down because that’s who you are, that’s who you’ve been for so long.
It’s comfy here.
To succeed… oh man! It takes planning, patience, commitment, hard work and consistent positive daily habits. Even with all of that, there is still no guarantee of success. The risk of failure is far higher and the fall far further.
Are we really up for all of that? Maybe being a loser ‘aint so bad?
But man… Is true success ever so satisfying!
As a diehard Richmond fan and a person who had in the past placed a lot of his self worth on the game of Aussie Rules Football… all of the pain, the let downs, the frustration, the heart breaks… every single little bit of it was worth the wait.
Every dollar spent on watching us get our pants pulled down.
Every ridicule from a mate about how shit we were.
Every “aww I’m sorry” sympathy received just for being a TIgers supporter.
Every bit was worth it, and oh did it make the success feel so much sweeter.
Being a Tigers supporter has made me more resilient, more grateful and more patient. It confirms to me that planning, patience, commitment, hard work and consistent positive daily habits are the only pathway to true physical, emotional and spiritual success.
If you are still unsure what parallels I am drawing on here are… I’ll make it clear. I’m talking about you.
You, the person that puts their biggest desires in the too hard basket.
You, the person that says “I’ll start again Monday” almost every week… for the past 13 years.
You, the person that spends all of their energy looking for a quick fix rather than just doing the work.
You, the person that lives in lala land, pretending that chronic disease and early death don’t apply to you.
You, the person that’d rather drink/smoke/inject/snort/socials/hide/fuck/assault/gossip away their problems rather than go speak to someone about it.
You, the person that would rather kick back on the couch and claim how hard they’ve got it, rather than go out and achieve their dreams.
If you’re not willing to plan, be patient, commit, work hard and develop consistent positive daily habits, then don’t expect to feel one single ounce of the most raw joy, overwhelming sense of achievement and heart pounding, life affirming, spine tingling euphoria of total and complete satisfaction that you will undoubtedly experience with achieving success you have well and truly earned… if you just do it the right way.
Nothing feels as good as earning your success, not even the comfort of being a loser.
GO THE TIGES!!
Stu.
UPDATE – What a win! All of what I said above, validated.
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