Dealing with a major loss

I had been involved in a global social enterprise challenge, called the Hult Prize. Unfortunately, I got knocked out at the finals of the preliminary stage(University level). For weeks my teammates and I had been working rigorously in line with the theme of the challenge to harness the power of energy to solve problems in the areas of Education, Agriculture, Mobility, Health, Connectivity and Water(winner gets $1,000,000 start up funds).

We eventually came up with a solution to disrupt the agricultural logistics problem in Nigeria. The impact of our idea is to stop food wastage(which occurs most at the point of harvest and distribution in Nigeria) by creating a storage and efficient transportation solution that runs on clean energy and create wealth for the poor farmers who are cheated of the value of their produce by the actors of the current food distribution chain.

Lofty as our idea is(the judges acknowledged to its essentiality), it was not to be. We didn't emerge.

I always thought I could handle rejections, losses and disappointments because I was used to getting rejection emails from applications for conferences, leadership training and stuff. What I didn't realize was that, no two losses are the same. I had put a lot into making it to the regionals; had many sleepless nights working till dawn with my team. I even came down with a combo with of malaria parasite and typhoid(very scary) but it didn't deter me.
Well, to cap the story, losing yesterday was a defining and reflective moment for myself and my teammates. I tried being a sore loser, but I settled for in the privacy of me tearing into the soft my pillow.

But my grief didn't keep me from learning a very important lesson; it is easier to be philosophical with loss when you're a winner, but life shouldn't always be about winning, making an impact should be your prime goal. When life throws you a punch, get back up and challenge it again until it punches and you learn to dodge it's punches and serve it with a couple of yours.

And that's how you rise strong.