The way society is currently set up, this answer doesn't make much sense. Look everywhere you see, competitiveness and drive is encouraged, top athletes are worshiped and paid zounds of money, and the importance of genetics is quickly swept under the rug.
It doesn't really make sense to tell people to be less competitive when pretty much everyone and everything else tells them to be more so.
I understand what you are saying, but we need to remember one thing: it was all recreational! Good God, the man wasn't being chased by killers, he was doing this for fun!
The fact is, I don't care who you are, there are limits imposed on the 50 year old body. There just are. If you want to keep active, that's great, but what ever happened to being reasonable? Why is everyone in such a rush all the time to have more fun faster and harder than anyone else?
Maybe this is an artifact of civilization? Since we are no longer being chased by tigers we need to "fun" ourselves to death. Who knows.
To be fair, the article makes it clear that he never felt like he was "pushing" too hard before the incident. It may be he didn't notice his body talking to him, or maybe it just didn't until it was too late, which sucks. Everyone is different. I can tell you that I'm over 50 and have definitely noticed the effort and recovery challenges that accompany my age. I'm active and love to run, bike, etc. But it certainly feels different than it did when I was 15. I have to be reasonable about how much I do how fast.
Oh? Perhaps that is an illusion. Competitiveness drives people to pursue unrealistic goals and adopt questionable priorities, often at the cost of personal happiness, satisfaction, and personal health. Their driven to "win" useless victories at the cost of developing corrosive personalities that makes it more difficult for them to be enjoy life, build valuable friendships, and find meaningful love (romantic or otherwise). People are driven to hurt themselves by exercising beyond their body's limits. They're driven to waste their lives working for others at work of questionable value while sacrificing their own happiness, personal development, families, and relationships.
There is a value to competitiveness but only if it's kept in check and allowed to operate in service to, rather than in replacement of, goals of self-actualization, self-betterment, happiness, kindness, etc.
It does make sense to tell people to question what society is forcing down their throats. How will society change otherwise?
In surfing, there is essentially no mechanism to compete short of a formal competition, which is actually not that popular. There are small pockets where you can find competitions, but for the vast majority of surfers, there is simply nothing to do but your personal best on every wave. It is quite pleasant compared to other sports. Admittedly, also not as aerobically intensive, so fewer calories burned.
Sure but most people don't live near a surfable break. And even for those of us who do there just isn't enough space. Imagine the chaos if all the hard-core cyclists in Silicon Valley tried to go surfing in Santa Cruz every weekend.
I think the point wasn't to suggest that everyone become surfers, just that people taking part in other activities might have something to learn from how surfers approach their activity.
The point is that competition in surfing is difficult to impose on the hobby, so it develops differently. But you can intentionally take the same approach to other "sports" and hobbies. Just have fun, push yourself when you want to, figure out what you can do, and enjoy it. That applies to running, swimming, bicycling, weight lifting, and so on as much as it does to surfing. Resist the temptation to make everything a contest (even, ugh, yoga), it doesn't have to be.
A little friendly competition is a great motivator in sports that can be easily quantified like running, swimming, bicycling, and weight lifting. For me it really helps in staying fit. When you see your friends posting their workout times and speeds on social media it gives some positive peer pressure to get off the couch. Most of us here have sedentary jobs that are literally killing us so we need to get moving for more than just enjoyment.
I would modify your word "friendly" to instead be "playful". Competition can be healthy, beneficial, and fun, but usually only when it's playful. Consider the difference between a couple kids playing baseball for their own amusement on the one hand and a bunch of stressed out, angry, yelling parents at a little league game. There are extremes to competition and often the point where you try to win at all costs is where things break down and the negatives have the potential to overwhelm the positives.
I don't think that's actually the point. Don't fret so much about it; that's actually the problem. Just do your thing, and be happy without the need to push your limits so hard that you might break yourself. People often ignore the "healthy" bit from the phrase "a bit of healthy competition". And that includes competing with yourself.
Another answer is to get a coach, who can hopefully step back and see if you're doing more harm than good to yourself, instead of just lone-wolfing it.
I am a way-not-competitive runner. Jogger, really, since 1971. One marathon a year to get me out in the winter, best finish 4:30 (I am 58). No one ever said, "Uh oh, Jim is in this one, I'd better up my game."
But I had ablation at 43. So it is not clear to me that it is about pushing beyond boundaries.
I could not really enjoy activities that way. If I had to do something "just to enjoy experience", I pretty soon lost interest - there was no point in it for me (I mean I could still do it to be with friends, but not for activity itseft).
Be your own man and control your ego. Life is sooo much better when you do something for joy, not because you feel compelled to impress someone else. "Look ma!" is for kids (and now, Presidents apparently).
