Member-only story
As Long as You’re Alive, All Defeat is Psychological
It’s false 20% of the time, though.
Mexico City, 1968. High altitude, thin air. John Stephen Akhwari, a marathon runner from Tanzania, cramps early. Then he gets caught in a cluster of runners, falls, gashes his knee, dislocates it, and smashes his shoulder on the pavement. Medical staff assume he’s done. Eighteen of the seventy-five starters have already quit. He gets bandaged and goes back out. More than an hour after the winner crosses the line, Akhwari limps into the stadium. The medals have been handed out. A few thousand people are still there, and they cheer him home in last place. Someone asks why he didn’t stop. He says, “My country did not send me 5,000 miles to start the race; they sent me 5,000 miles to finish the race.”
As long as you’re alive, all defeat is psychological. Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius supposedly said, “until death, all defeat is psychological.” There’s wisdom in this. But it’s half true in a way that matters and half false in a way that can hurt people.
Why it’s true 80% of the time
“A man becomes honorable when suffering gives him every excuse to fall, and he still chooses to stand.” — Seneca
Your brain treats many life defeats as predictions.
