Us vs. Them

I live across the street from a coffee shop. It's not the shop I own. 

Before COVID hit, going across the street to have coffee and read was a huge part of my morning routine. Inevitably, once or twice a week someone would see me and say some version of: 

"You here keeping an eye on the competition?!" 

I never know how to respond to that shit. It's 7 am man. I'm just trying to read. 

I know they're probably just making conversation but it's alarming how much the "us vs. them" sentiment is woven into our society. That somehow everything is a competition. 

There's this underlying feeling that the easiest way to elevate your status is to bring someone else's down. 

As a formerly highly insecure and competitive person, I often defaulted to this mindset in hopes of finding recognition and acceptance. 

All I found was distance. Distance between myself and other people. Distance between myself and my goals. 

It's been a huge undertaking to undo these thought patterns. To focus on competing with myself instead of others, to try and help instead of hinder.

We're all part of an ecosystem that thrives when every part of that ecosystem is healthy. Unlike all the companies involved in the Subprime Mortgage Crisis in 2008, we don't have anyone bail us out of our monetary or mental messes created by acting from this flawed, zero-sum game mentality. 

Last week I found out our friends who own another local coffee shop were moving in right across the street from our newest, largest, and most expensive to build location. A location we just opened two weeks before COVID hit and turned everyone’s business upside down.

My immediate response: "Time to throw some block parties."