Tell Yourself: This Is All Worth It

<p>Even if you’re not a college basketball fan, you may have heard about this incredible upset in 2018, when top-ranked University of Virginia was defeated by University of Maryland-Baltimore County in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. It was the first time in the tournament’s 80 year history that a number 16 seed beat a number one seed. Virginia had been the favorite to win the <em>entire</em> 68-team tournament, and then the biggest of underdogs came in and surprised everyone, pulling off one of the greatest victories in sports history. </p><p>The Virginia loss ruined millions of brackets and could very well have ruined one man’s career. <a href='https://www.richmond.com/sports/college/schools/university-virginia/woody-historic-loss-shows-bennett-s-uva-teams-not-equipped/article_90194371-65bf-5d41-a3d5-076df4bc4749.html'>As one local Virginia newspaper put it,</a> Virginia and head coach Tony Bennett “will be remembered in years, perhaps decades, to come, for becoming the first No. 1 seed...to lose to a No. 16 seed. That stain,” the article continued, “does not easily, if ever, wash away.”</p><p>Maybe you’ve experienced a loss or a setback like that in your life. Maybe it’s worrying about that kind of failure that keeps you up at night--and keeps you out of big-time moments. <em>God,</em> we think,<em> I hope that never happens to me.</em> But that’s not how Bennett saw it. He decided to accept it—to take the hit. Because that’s all you can do, if you want to play on the biggest stages, at the highest levels, and test yourself against the best.. <a href='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSG8YYOoZlQ'>As he explained in a press conference after the game</a>:</p><p><em>That&apos;s life. We talk about it all the time...If you play this game, and you step into the arena, this stuff can happen...And all those who compete take that on. And so we&apos;ll accept it.</em></p><p>That’s the first part. The Stoics knew you had acquiesce to misfortune, to the reality of life. If you play the game, sometimes you’ll los