Kim Wetter

The Origins of Losing: A Lesson in Humility

I hate losing. Like really, really hate it. If you’ve played me in any sort of game and beat me, you will know, I suck at losing. I’m an ass. I get grumpy. I generally am not pleasant to be around. Even if I’m losing, I’ll get super stressed out and it’s probably rather annoying.

Because of this, I generally try to only do things that I’m good at. (Luckily, I think that’s a lot of things)

As a freshman in high school, my uber Christian ex-boyfriend wrote me love letter-esque list of the things he loved about me. On said sappy list, he wrote something to the extent of “I love how we can’t play games together because you’re too competitive.”

I’d like to think I’ve gotten better since then, but it’s hard to tell.

At work, I’ve started playing water pong with my coworker, roommate and friend Emily. When I say water pong, I do not mean Beirut. I mean one cup on each end, paddles, hoops, scored to 21, etc. You try to hit the ping pong ball into the cup. You get a point for each time you hit the cup (minding a nice arch) and one point if you make a “hoop” in the cup. Why do you not earn more points for making a hoop? Because when drinking, the person scored on must stop and finish a whole beer. Therefore, the more hoops you get, the drunker your competitor becomes. We do not drink at work while playing, but we score the same.

Now, I only played pong in college once. One time, I learned how to play this game, and got my ass kicked. One time.

But why didn’t I play this game? I play almost every drinking game known to man!

So when asked if I wanted to start it up at work, to be honest, I said yes, initially thinking we would be playing Beirut. And I’m a huge stickler for people using the correct names to refer to the correct game, but I was wrong.

So why not? Let’s give this a shot. I’m going to attempt to get better at this game.

And I suck!

I’m terrible. Since we’ve started, I’ve only won four games. Emily has won nine. And she wins, consistently, week after week, day after day.

And I hate it!

Sometimes I pout. Sometimes I get angry. Sometimes it’s probably rather unpleasant for Emily to play with me. Sometimes I tell her I’m going to quit.

But I can’t. I am trying to teach myself the patience of losing. I’d like to not be considered a “poor sport.” So I call it a lesson in humility because it’s damn right embarrassing how much and how often I lose. But that’s okay. Or I’m hoping it will be… or I’m hoping I will be.

So let’s call this a personal challenge. Wish me luck.

 

P.S. I also finished my softball season and we didn’t win a single game. It’s been a season of losing for me. If you read last week’s post, you’ll know I’m hoping more of you will comment. So, comment if you’d like on a time you kicked my ass in something.