The sweet agony of defeat...

 The famous image of "agony of defeat" from Wide World of Sports

To have loved and lost, is better.. than to never have loved at all. Or better even, than to have loved and won!

A loss, if truly meaningful, teaches you a lot more than any victory ever can. A defeat gives you cause to pause and contemplate, to question, to reassess what went wrong. How can you rise from it? But most of all a defeat gives you perspective, a measure to value all your victories. I have been on the winning side more than a few times. Winning the game, winning the points, winning the girl. But in sports like in real life, winning the girl doesn't feel half as good as losing the girl feels bad...

The thrill of victory gives an adrenaline rush, sends blood coursing through the veins, leaves you with a sense of elation. But the agony of defeat hurts a lot longer. The pangs come for days and weeks and sometimes months. The heaviness of the heart feels like someone is kneeling on your chest with their knee. Those who have ever lost anything meaningful, will know what I mean.

My victories have given me hope to be better, faster, stronger. But my defeats have made me who I am!

I am an Arsenal supporter and I am on the plane back from Barcelona!