The one before you is better than you
They are polished, exceptional, impressive,marvelous, stunning

You are not

She is tall, long, lean, and strong
She is energetic, consistent, prodigious, attentive to detail

You are not

You are short, stubby, sloppy, lacking, mediocre at best
You did your best but thats not good enough

So

You take second place

And so…

You critique yourself in hopes of becoming better

“Sell your story” “technique!” “better facials” “technique!”
“Connect with your audience” “technique!” “show more emotion” “technique!”
“Point your feet” for God’s sake point your feet...
And for the love of God
Work on your technique…

And so…

You practice

And

You go back

And

You do it again
You feel like you’ve improved
You feel good about the performance
You were innovative, flexible, accurate, graceful, spot on, passionate

And

You came in second place

Because She was

More innovative and
More flexible and
More accurate and
More graceful and
More spot on and
More passionate than you

But

You don’t give up because
You love what you do
You are bright enough to know that if
You practice hard enough
You will no longer come in second place because next time

You may come in third or fourth or fifth or last but that’s ok
You can tell yourself

It’s ok because

You may NEVER come in first

Because there are no bests, because there is always someone better but

It’s ok because

You know although you are not first place
You are second place and if
You never tried
You would be in no place

And

Second place is better than no place at all