Sports has had a very integral role in my growing up years. Has been instrumental in teaching me things which I will cherish all my life. What comes along with playing sports is you get into a habit of watching sports and when it be the biggest sporting event, one can hardly miss upon the wonderful performances.

Yes, Olympics did have its own set of controversies and accomplishments, which each one of us know and would not really want to get into the complexities of the same. What I would instead want to talk about is few things which I learnt from my sporting years, both playing and watching, and which I think are extremely relevant when it comes to leading our day-to-day lives.

I still remember, cable connection used to be a luxury at home only to be availed during our summer holidays because my mom was very particular about her kids not wasting time on the same and instead wanted us to focus on academics.

Those were the days, when on a Sunday, if there was supposed to be a cricket match being played between India and another nation, when I would get up around 5 or so in the morning to first play my favorite sports and then get ready to watch it at a friend’s place.

Probably, the ease with which one becomes disciplined with no one else telling you all the time to do so, was the biggest habit which I was drawn into, courtesy sports. Now I realize how his gets translated to any other aim or goal that you set for yourself and carve out a path to achieve the same, which comes pretty naturally to you and makes it a cake walk when it comes to adapting yourself to the grueling schedule.

While, on the field, since it’s a team sports and your victory is determined by how everyone else is performing, a team sports, no matter how much you would want to, doesn’t give you the liberty to become selfish, instead teaches you to do your job selflessly, striving towards a larger goal at all times.

Such great mentoring, especially during the formative years of a child, instills in him/her an ability to think beyond one’s profit and loss and instead focus on the common good, leaving little scope for comparisons and the resulting jealousy, in turn enabling one to lead a much happier life.

The wonderful think about sports like any other other field is the adulation that one gets when one wins. Though it has its own confidence boosting effect, at the same time, it more often than not, leads to over-confidence and ego.

But as with every other thing, this two has its in-built neutralizing formula, where in you don’t always win, but lose as well. It’s incredible how the ego comes shattering down when you brag and lose, in turn teaching you a very important lesson in life, which is to remain balanced at every point of time in your life and take success and failures in the same stride.

Another extra-ordinary thing about sports is that it teaches you that there are no limits to what you can achieve. In every tournament new records are set, which inspires every individual to have faith in his/her ability to go beyond the usual, and more importantly to think that one can actually cross the line with better efforts, thereby motivating one to continue with the hard work.

And the most important of all that sports teaches you is, that nothing comes easy. You have to put in the hard work, you have to make each moment, each day count for the incremental improvements to take place, you have to be conscious of the fact that it needs to be worked upon.

Doesn’t it sound similar to working on any social relationship in the World that we tend to get into during the wonderful journey that we all call life, be it spouse or kids?

If it does hit your realization, then make sure you and your family get into a habit of playing sports, for it’s all about playing games and the more you play with the right spirit, the more satisfied and happy you would be in life.

Source for Image: https://sites.jmu.edu/103fall14/are-youth-sports-too-competitive-draft-i/