Mental Wellbeing and Competitiveness

 

Mental Health has been taken more seriously in the past few years, what with COVID and all, especially in the younger generations. However, you might be wondering how exactly competitiveness ties into the lump of matter in our heads, as it turns out its quite important for us.

So how does competition affect us mentally?

To begin, competitiveness by nature really translates to 'I want to get better at something in order to get something', or in other words, it is a certain awareness by a person to recognise that they themselves see a certain weaker point within themselves that they want to be stronger for a purpose. These purposes can range from wanting to work harder at the Gym for a better physique to impress the girl or the guy they like or even wanting to practice playing FIFA to the point where they score 5 goals a game and only lose 1 in 20. There are many different reasons as to why competition can help you get what you want.

So to answer the question 'how does it effect us mentally?', if you are competitive you will find yourself always on the chase to be better at something, becoming more focussed and headstrong every time you attempt or practice what you want to achieve. It indoctrinates an attitude of 'never giving up' and over the course of time will rewire your brain into having this mindset as a default.

What is also important to note is that being competitive, particularly in combat sports such as boxing, allows the participant to relieve stress because of the aggressive nature of the sport. According to a post on the 'wbcme' website one of the key benefits to your mental health from boxing is that it 'directly fights against the feelings of stress' and 'allows you to calm down while benefiting from the post-exercise feeling you get from the endorphins'.