21 Oct BeLikeJenny
Last Sunday afternoon, I was torn. I could continue to read a novel next to the pool. Or I could get on the spin bike. The two committees in my head were arguing back and forth. The first said, “Relax! It’s the weekend! Stay curled up in this chair reading!” Then the other voice chimed in, “Get a ride in! It will make up for the pint of Oreo ice cream you ate last night after claiming you were just going to have one tiny bite!”
I eventually decided to get on the bike. I did a virtual workout where I could see 10 other riders who were doing the same ride. Someone with the user name BeLikeJenny started at about the same time I did.
It can become a bit of a race between other riders who are doing the same program. Riders often give each other virtual high-fives to share support at the beginning or end of a ride. However, I’ve also noticed many people use high-fives strategically as they zoom past you on the leaderboard and leave you panting in the metaphorical dust. I am not as fond of those high-fives.
As we started, BeLikeJenny and I were neck and neck. The instructor began leading us into the first hill. After a few minutes of huffing and puffing, I noticed I had passed BeLikeJenny on the leaderboard. On the left side of my screen, I saw a high-five appear. It was from BeLikeJenny.
It turns out, even a virtual high-five makes me smile. Whenever I thought about it during the ride, it gave me strength to keep pushing hard.
Sometimes, we carry a fear that someone else’s success will take away from our own – that our success depends on the failure of others. But here’s the secret: it doesn’t. Supporting others does not take away from our own success. It’s actually nice to celebrate others’ accomplishments and, even better, it tends to increase our own happiness. It turns out there are enough high-fives to go around.
We should all BeLikeJenny.