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I fully agree! Competition is healthy. But my focus was more on 'overachieving'. When i was younger (I hope I am improving!) I sometimes found myself in a negative feedback loop of always comparing myself to my peers / friends and (a) being disappointed in why I perhaps hadn't achieved that and (b) possibly not celebrating their successes/achievements enough. And this is applicable to all things - sports, money, career, partner.... Once I learnt to let that go - I was generally happier. But you are 100% correct that if you work towards a dream YOU wish for, not anyone else, competition is indeed healthy. Thanks for your thoughts.

Yes, thank you for your thoughts. Comparing yourself to others can leave you stressed and disappointed, that is true, have had it many times before. But once you get over that again, you can notice you pushed your skills and experiences further, even though it looked like you did not preform well against the others. It is like training with amateurs or professionals: if you always think with mediocre, you will end up mediocre (even though you win most of the times). If you train with professionals that keep you on edge to do it better all the time, you most likely become stronger and more skilled (even though it cost more effort and you do not win most of the time).