We Are Infinitely Intertwined by Christen Press

A reflection piece written by Christen Press, inspired by the the infinitely complex and intertwined nature of our world.

I was raised as a competitor. Yes, of course: beat the competition, but also outshine and outperform your teammates. Winning means someone else losing.

So, from a young age, I set out to make sure someone else lost.

I focused on creating a competitive advantage by studying the weaknesses of those around me and doubling-down on developing those skills.

Along the way, when I saw others winning games or awards or making a team, I felt that I was being left out. I was losing.

Could you imagine watching your teammate score a game winning goal to put you into a final and feeling… jealous? I can. That’s scarcity. And as a young professional, my mood as well as my potential was ruled by this mindset.

My journey as a professional athlete has been painfully imperfect. But looking back now, the irony of my individual mindset was that, without knowing why, it helped me be a better teammate.

While cultivating my competitive strengths where I saw others had weaknesses, I ended up developing skills that helped me balance out the group around me, keeping my teams collectively strong across skill sets. I was inadvertently helping the team be better all along. And having the best team helped me become the best individual. She scored, and we all got to play in the final. My journey as a professional athlete has been wonderfully imperfect.

“When we see that you are a single cell in the body of the cosmos, it comes naturally to cooperate and act in the benefit of the whole, just as the whole acts for your benefit. Heart cells don’t envy liver cells. Despite their differences, every cell harmonizes its inherent interests with the overall wellbeing of the body.” -- Deepak Chopra

Could you imagine watching your teammate scoring a game winning goal to put you into a final and feeling jealous?

Could you imagine watching your life partner work for years, finally get a promotion, and feeling the joy as if it were happening to you? I can. That’s abundance.

Now imagine you extend that love and celebration to your entire family. It’s easy, right? Could you extend it to your entire community? To the entire world?

I can imagine how much more love, joy, celebration, and success we’d all have if we did that with every person every single day. That’s abundance. And I believe that we are all infinitely intertwined.