Although I don't have a very active presence on social media, having a FB and IG account still allows me to see the things you all post - a snapshot into your day at work, some thoughts you might have, and/or some interesting event or other, sometimes accompanied by photos. One type of post that really sticks out to me is what I'll call the "Obstacle(s)-Overcome" post. They can take many forms - a quote, a rant, a picture with some inspiring words - but the main feature of an OO post, as I will refer to them from here on out, is that the author has overcome some obstacle or other.
After perusing my news feed, I have now concluded that these posts exist largely on Instagram. Or that people don't post these things in the morning. Or that only a handful of people post them, none of whom are currently active. Whatever the reason, I couldn't find any at the time I'm writing this, but thankfully they aren't necessary to my writing - they just help illustrate what I'm referring to.
Getting back to the matter, what interests me about these posts is that they always illustrate some strength or other. Sometimes it's the strength to move past trauma, sometimes it's the strength to be independent, and still others it is the strength to go to work. Whatever the case, the point is to show progress. The idea that you are better than you were before.
Let me take a second to give you an idea of my sense of competition. One time in elementary school, I think it was 5th grade but I'm not sure, I was playing some steal the bacon. The other team was stacked - the teacher somehow put all the goddamn athletic kids on one team. And in elementary school I wasn't fat & athletic yet - just fat. I was still competitive, though, and was winning my battles. My teammates, on the other hand, were not. It was driving me off the wall to the point where I might have even been turning red in the face. I mean don't ask, because I can't even tell you why, but for some reason I was treating that game like my personal Super Bowl. I needed to win, but my shittier-than-shit teammates weren't helping. And I was not shy about getting in their ear about it. I was running my mouth up until the point when a handful of girls grouped up to yell at me. I mean, they literally formed a huddle, counted to 3 or some shit, and yelled, in unison, "MINH! IT'S JUST A GAME!" Hahahah, boy was I a fuckin' asshole.
Anyways, the point of the story is that I get it. I get the need for triumph. The need to be better - and the glorious feeling that comes with. However, these OO-posts are interesting in that they recur fairly frequently and from the same people. This led me to think about how we consider progress - defined by Google as "forward or onward movement towards a destination."
I'm gonna use math in my analogy, but don't sweat it - it's really basic and easy-to-understand. Let's pretend we're learning math, and we start with 1+1. Then you move on to 1+2, then 1+3, and so on and so forth. Before you know it, 1081953 + 92041 is easily calculated - you've come a long way from 1+1. Imagine if your teacher set you a problem - 7 + 7 + 7 + 7 + 7 + 7 + 7 + 7 + 7 + 7 + 7 & that you don't know how to multiply. So to solve, you're just counting. Starting with 7, and adding 10 more 7's. Of course, given some time, you work it out and end up with 77. But if you knew how to multiply, you would have come up with 77 much faster. In this situation, I gave you two ways to solve the problem; one is much faster than the other. Of course it's fine to use addition - it gets you to the same spot, just slower.
I just want to point out the fact that even though you may feel successful or like you've made progress, the truth is that ...well, you might still be doing addition. And like I said before, that's okay too. I just wanted to bring to light the fact that that progress you hold so dear might not be progress at all. & when you feel burdened or things aren't going quite right - you might just need a fresh (read: different) approach to life.
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