Who Cares About the World Record?

Around 3:00 in the morning, Sam and I woke up to driving rain.

"Good," I thought.

It was his first overnight backpacking trip, and I'd sensed him being a little nervous about not having a tent.

Now he knows not to worry.

Despite the downpour, we were plenty dry under our tarp, except for his feet sticking out. He doesn't remember me waking him up to fix that problem.

As the rain fell, I drifted back to sleep, happy to be in my element.

No phones.

No email.

No worries.

Just me and my youngest son, with full bellies and tired legs.

We fixed our breakfast the following morning as the sun rose high enough to burn the fog from the valley below. With only about 4 miles back to the truck, we were in no hurry.

I had a second cup of coffee; Sam had hot cocoa. I'm sure his taste for cocoa will soon give way to coffee.

The first swimming hole was about a mile down the trail. The water was cold, and steam rose from the sandy bank.

After a swim, I lay on a big rock, warming myself like a snake in the sun.

Sam tried to catch minnows.

Somewhere along the way back, he tossed a rock into the woods.

"World record!" he said.

"Is that so?"

"Yes! Well, the world record for that rock, thrown by me in that spot, anyway."

Hmmm.

We spend so much time comparing ourselves to others.

Ben got a promotion.

Steve got a new car.

And Tom, well, he just bought a house on the golf course with a swimming pool.

But, hey! Look at me! I've got an important-sounding title, a new car, and a big house, too!

We find pleasure in that comparison when we're on top. That is, when our promotion is more prominent, our car is faster, or our house is more extravagant.

When "I" is greater than "them," we find happiness.

But it's fleeting.

Comparing ourselves to other people is the wrong metric.

The rat race towards more and more and better and better than everyone around you does not lead to happiness.

It's cliche, I know, but happiness comes from within.

The only comparison that matters is between the life we are living today, the life we were living yesterday, and the life we desire to live.

It's not about Ben's job, Steve's car, or Tom's house.

It's about us.

It's about what we want and what we're doing to make it a reality.

Sam's got it right.

Who cares about the world record?

The record that matters, the one worth striving for, is the best we've ever been at whatever we're doing to become the person we want to be.