When you are left tantalizingly close

By: Miriam Costa

Much is said about what happens when you fail or stay close of your objectives; what you should have done, the things you did well and you did not, those that weren’t under your control. “You have tried it, and that’s the most important thing”-they said-, “You did your best, so you don’t have to blame yourself”. And there’re OK, but the real thing is that those hot airs aren’t going to bring your opportunity back, and your feelings will remain sore, at least for a time.

Even though when we face a competition with three alternatives: winning, losing or something in between (that always exists, in fact), it’s hard for all of us to get used to defeat. Any of us compete for winning, to improve, to enjoy, to give everything and overcome our fears. We get motivated before moving out to the track, visualize the triumph and positively speak to ourselves. We train hard, everyday, sacrifice a lot, wait and persevere until the moment when everything is ready. However we don’t always succeed.

                                                  

Many times when everything is in our favour, we just have a bad day and we don’t get what we deserve. We get close to our goal, but we don’t achieve it. A tenth of a second can take our dream away, even a position or a simple gesture can fade our illusions and work, an unexpected injury or an unrelated motive to the competition. In those cases, the “failure” hurts double, because it seemed so close that looked unrealistic not to taste it.

Throughout my sport career I have watched those disappointed faces, I have seen those watery eyes and haunted looks, I have suffered myself the pain, the anger and finally the bitter letdown left in the heart. Nobody could take me back by hopes in that moments, but now when I look back I realise that those disillusions are some of the best parts of me, my strengths and my bravery, my drives nowadays. I wouldn’t erase any of those strikes, as now I fly with them.

Because sometimes life has a different plan to us and we just have to take a breath and see what the future holds. After all if we ever get so close it’s because we weren’t on the wrong road.