For the better portion of our lives, we are conditioned to think that we have to be the best. Think about it. Then, take the thought that we are persuaded we have to be the best, and on top of that, we have to make it known that we are the best at whatever it is, whether it's a sport, school, or random hobby. I mean, it's the fun being the best. Imagine the first time you won something that others were competing for; it could simply be winning your first Little League game by catching the winning out or was first place in the geography bee, but it is the defined moment that sparked within you that you were good at something. Each of us took little sample periods growing up, trying every activity under the sun, trying to determine which one we were good at or the one we liked enough to make the choice we were going to be good at.
I did choir, volleyball, basketball, kickball, pick an activity I most likely tried it. The problem was that I didn't like these extracurricular, the issue was that I wasn't good at any of them. I rode the wave of slightly above average, but not "good" enough to be considered "good". Same with school. I did fine in school, but I rode the wave of being "smart", but I wasn't going to win any kind of school-wide competition any time in the future. I lived the life of being average, dabbling in several small activities, but never being a big name in one main extracurricular.
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While this could have frustrated me and made me push myself into some activity I only sort of liked, I kind of liked being only average. Being average or slightly above average kind of makes you a mystery. You weren't expected to do anything grand or have the team on your back, but whenever you managed to do something above what you normally do, it's a great, very welcomed surprise. It kept everyone guessing what you would do next. It keeps you guessing what you were going to do next. It's an exciting spectacle. You get to be among the ranks of the other notable underdogs. We never thought Elle Wood would get into Harvard. Parks and Recreation kept me guessing if Leslie Knope would be able to complete the Pawnee Commons.
I like being the underdog. It's fun. It's not a matter of how good I am at something or what people think I am good at, it's about me being the wild card, the unexpected surprise in the bunch. No one knows if or what I'll accomplish. I don't even know what I'll accomplish. It will be good, though, because when has the underdog accomplished anything better than great. This lifestyle keeps everyone guessing. It keeps me guessing, but there is no one else I would rather surprise than myself.
