What happens if you go out there and have the worst game of your life? After the game is over, is anyone going to come up to you and shoot you? Is anyone going to knife you? Is anyone going to mug you on the streets? Of course not!
The only thing that is going to happen is you are going to feel bad. Is there anything else that happens to you? Comment down below. Now, you may say because this is one of the most common concerns of athletes is being yelled at after a bad game. But think of it, where does it lie between fear of emotions and fear of physical harm and danger?
If the coach yells at you is it followed by a fist? Does your coach take you back out, yells at you and then whips you? Certainly not!
The only thing that happens after that is you feel bad. Now check this out, I have a long and complete training for this tip but I’m going to give you the short version of it that I usually teach to the little kids.
Firstly, why do we get emotions?
Well, we get emotions, all of them (the fun ones and the difficult ones) because they help us learn, they help us grow, and they help us live our lives. The truth about emotions like feeling bad, embarrassment, frustrations, confusions, all the things that might happen that if the coach yelled at you or you choked in a game, the only thing that really happens in real life with yourself as a human being is a part of your brain called the hypothalamus releases some chemicals to your body.
These chemicals latch on to your different parts of the body and then you feel something. That really is all the happens.
Have you ever felt embarrassed? Because the worst thing that happens to you when you feel embarrassed is you are going to feel some chemicals and you hold yourself back from performing your best.
Why? Because you are simply afraid of the chemicals. That’s all there is.
When you think about it, I have just now made everything known about the worst case scenario for you. If you are not afraid of your chemicals, you have just eliminated a huge chunk of your interference which is 90%. Now, you can go out there and just go,
“Whatever!”“Bring it on!”
“Embarrassment? Just some chemicals.”
“Lack of confidence? Just some chemicals.”
“Anger? Just some chemicals!”
I once had a gymnast who is scared to death. She can’t go backwards and that is physical injury. All I did was tell her what we just talked about here. I told her that it was just chemicals and you could always go back because I promise you that you will be just fine. Then she went to the state tournament and her father updated me with her progress that she totally unblocked her fear and did her thing. I asked the father,
“What works for her?”
And the father replied,
“She just told me later that she stood up there and did all the things that she’s been afraid of for a year and told herself that it is just chemicals! And boom, she did it!”
I’m Craig Sigl,
Your Mental Toughness Trainer