The CONSOLATION PRIZE...The BETTER PRIZE

Image by Chimpanze Rage via Flickr

I recently watched and episode of Pokemon where Ash battled a gym leader and lost. Ash was disappointed but being very strong willed and determined he did not give up. Instead he went on a small retreat with his Pokemon and began a special type of training using nature’s energy that let the Pokemon senses become stronger enabling them to out think their opponents in battle. Almost like developing their sixth sense. In the end there was a rematch with the gym leader and this time Ash won.

When things don’t happen like we want them to, we get upset and feel bad because we wanted them to happen. We had a preconceived idea of how wonderful something was going to be. The PRIZE....Oh I didn’t get to hang out with my friends so I missed out on all the fun. Or I didn't get the job I wanted. I didn't get the car I wanted. I didn't get the house I wanted.

The prize at the end of the tunnel is full of seduction. But maybe that prize is just not meant for us and sometimes there is a better prize than the thing we want. IT'S THE CONSOLATION PRIZE.

You know...what behind door number two sort of thing. and well there is always a consolation prize.

The consolation prize can be tons more valuable than the prize itself because the consolation prize offers greater opportunity for growth. If we did not get what we wanted we can look at ourselves and ask are we good enough, do we have the skills. If not we can work on these.

We can also ask am I conforming to smaller standards than who I am. Like fitting a square peg in a round hole it just won't work. I see this a lot in cooking shows where there will be a chef who's food is not accepted because it's too different. It isn't that this chef is a failure its more that he just doesn't fit into the set of parameters of the cooking show's judging. He might start a restaurant somewhere and be very successful because of his different cooking style. He might even become a world renown Chef because his failure led him to take a cooking class in a foreign country that led him to gain more knowledge and experience, and this would not had happened had he won or succeeded earlier in his journey. This is the consolation Prize which in the end is can be the better Prize.

Had Ash won the first battle, he would have never developed his new skills and would not have grown. Life isn't always about winning, its about growing. When things don't happen like you want them to or you don't win the Prize you should ask yourself do you need some growth in some area of your life.

There are many things that I have wanted to to and be in life but when attempted to do them I either failed or was never recognized and I began to think there was something wrong with me. But no those things were just not meant to happen and now I realize how lucky I am that all those things never happened. It is hard to clearly see the benefit of failure when it happens but later you can say well because I failed I was able to do this and this led to that and now I am here somewhere I never planned on but the view is nice...oh so very very nice..