SPORTS AND A LIFE

Simply being a sports enthusiast - any sport for that matter - allows you to soak in the balanced perspectives of life, where, just like a game, multiple factors are at play simultaneously. Sports trains us to believe in the impossible as well as come to terms with life’s realities.

I write this article on a day when the New Zealand men’s cricket team have created history by whitewashing India 3-0 in a test series in India. This is the stuff visiting teams dream of - beating India in India, often going back with an ‘impossibility feeling’ as our teams have been ruthlessly successful in home series year after year.

This loss has also put in question many famed reputations, which, not too long back, were shining bright. That is what sports does to people. It is a great leveler, putting people in their place faster than you can imagine. Somewhere, the passion, or at least an interest in sports, is embedded in human nature. Perhaps there is nothing like sports which plays out the daily drama of life so effectively, constantly highlighting the ephemeral nature of existence.

In sports success and failure are two sides of the same coin, in a real sense and not just in a metaphorical sense. Sports teaches us that you never take success for granted. It also teaches us not to get too disheartened with failure, as there is always another day, another innings and another game.

Simply being a sports enthusiast - any sport for that matter - allows you to soak in the balanced perspectives of life, where, just like a game, multiple factors are at play simultaneously. Sports trains us to believe in the impossible as well as come to terms with life’s realities.

A hero today can be seen as zero tomorrow and vice versa. Sports also acquaints you frequently with the inexplicable Luck Factor. The truly humble-oriented successful people often attribute their success to the luck factor. There is no foolproof authentic reason why some people make it and some people don’t, and so ‘luck’ exists whether we acknowledge its role or not.

Sports also teaches you to Control The Controllable and focus on the process. After all, results are not in your control; yet, you need to retain the hunger for outcomes. A deep rooted fascination for sports instills in us the realisation of mortality, thereby creating a sense of purpose, passion and urgency.

Sports mirrors life in many ways and life too mirrors sports in various ways. Sports enables us to cope better with life’s myriad complexities, unpredictability and surprises.

So, Love Sports, Love Life!