I had the opportunity to sit down and chat with my uncle Brian about being competitive. The more content I create for the Calvin Keeney Show, the more I realize there aren’t a whole lot of similarly competitive people like me in this world.
I’m very happy to have a friend like my uncle Brian to discuss life as a highly competitive person. It makes me feel more normal knowing that I’m not the only one that gets frustrated navigating life through a highly competitive lens.
Here is the video of Brian Keeney and I talking about our competitive experiences.
The Competitive “Switch”: What it Feels Like When it Turns On
Growing up I thought everyone had a competitive switch that would turn on. I just thought mine was much stronger than the other kids.
The older I get, the more I realize that not everyone has this. In fact, most people seem to not have one at all and that’s ok. Knowing this helps me to understand other people better and the importance of being proud of who I am even though it’s different from most.
Uncle Brian and I discussed the feelings we get when our competitive switch turns on. It can be embarrassing if we let our competitiveness out at the wrong time. So we’ve learned how to better handle those situations.
Healthy Ways to Deal with Your Competitiveness
I like to set aside time during the week where I schedule activities that are focused on being competitive. These activities are best if I have other competitive people participating alongside myself.
Uncle Brian talked about not feeling himself when he goes too long with out that feeling of intense competition. Even if it’s a friendly game of basketball with other competitive players. I agreed and know that I need competition in my life or I don’t feel fulfilled.
Raising Kids as a Competitive Person
It’s important to remember that people are different than you in many ways. Even children that were born with your same genes.
Competitive parents and caregivers might find it helpful to remember this and not try to force their competitiveness onto others that don’t want that.
I found that using my competitive nature to become a better resident assistant was helpful when supporting adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. However, forcing my competitiveness into their lives would not have been particularly helpful because they enjoy life through their own lens. And my job was to support them to fulfill the best version of themselves.
Same goes with parenting (or so it sounds. Haha)
Supporting People that are Highly Competitive
My mom did an amazing job at raising me as I learned how to deal with being competitive.
There were many many many times when I expressed my competitiveness in an unhealthy way. Looking back on it, I’m even more grateful and amazed at how well my mom handled those situations.
She continued to find ways for me to be competitive in a healthy way with other kids that were also competitive. This was extremely helpful for me as I learned when it was appropriate to be “out for blood” and when it was time to play nice.
I enjoy being around people that understand my competitiveness and know that it is important for me to find healthy outlets for it. Even if the person doesn’t understand WHY someone would need this.
Do You Know any Highly Competitive People?
Are you a highly competitive person? Do you know someone that is?
Let us know in the comments below what has helped you and others express their competitiveness in a healthy way. This topic is important to us ultra competitive people who want to be proud of who we are while also still feeling like we belong in non competitive groups of people 🙂
Thanks for reading!
Leave a Reply