NT's and Competition compared to Autistic people.

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"It stops some competing in the job market (particularly) which is very concerning"; I am not talking about job competition in that you strive to do a really good job and compete with your competitors but you are not a backstabber. You don't throw people under the train and then stomp on their faces.

Competition has always been foreign to me. I'm not sure about what learned helplessness is. I don't see the connection between this and a lack of interest in competition.

In my youth (my stated age is fake, wish I was in my 50s again!! !) I was very competitive academically at school and university later on. My self esteem depended on it then, as my personal worth had been shredded by the way foster children were regarded and treated in the 1940s and even now. So scholastic ability (and music) and a natural ability to swim like the proverbial fish were my "islands of competence" that I had to cling to and build on, like a drowning person clinging to a life raft.

I abandoned the formal study music as a young person in my teens (too much pressure put on me, so intense that I would have cracked up from the relentless demands to play perfectly 24/7) and same for swimming. I was only beaten in the pool once, and found it very hard to cope with (without parental interest or support - they never came to see me swim or to prizegivings, it was completely ignored). So by my late teens, academic prowess was the sole focus of my competitive drive.

Achievement did benefit me in many ways, not least psychologically and emotionally; I had grown up knowing that more than "ordinary" children, who belonged in their families, I had to "prove" my worth. Competition was one of the many things that saved me as a person and an adult. It can be a very positive thing in context.

I'm sorry your parents didn't go to see you swim.

Thanks I was too, at the time. But they were what they were.

Men are more likely to be competitive than women are, especially in competitions. My mom for instance has no competitive instinct. She could care less if she wins or loses. Me? I do care how I compete with other people. There has been times where iv'e gotten so mad, iv'e kicked and thrown stuff. I rarely get angry or upset but when I do, it usually has to do with competition and I have a hard time controlling it.

I've always been a very competitive person, ever since I was about 3 or 4 years old.

As a very small child, I used to get really anxious and panicky if I felt I wasn't doing or having what other kids done/had. I remember when I noticed that I was the only kid that didn't have a wardrobe in my bedroom. It made me anxious for some reason.
When I got a bit older things like that didn't bother me any more. But I got bothered by other things, like I would sulk if I didn't have what other kids had, and I would whinge and whine until I got it, or received a good enough reason why I didn't have it. But I've seen this type of behaviour in NT kids too, so I believe that was a normal thing.
I don't get so jealous of what other women look like, but I do get REALLY jealous (to the point of depression) of other people's confidence, approval and how many friends they have, etc. I often worry about my colleagues all going out one evening after work and not inviting me, probably because they feel too awkward asking me because I'm quiet.

I never got completion with others are myself