Think Like An Athlete To Improve Your Mental Health
Here I’m shooting (and scoring a goal!) in a tournament with the NYC Handball Team in Montreal, Canada.
Imagine this: It’s competition day. You’re a professional runner and you have been practicing for this run every day for a year now. Today is THE day. It’s you against the rest. Or, is it perhaps just you against yourself? Just like in life outside the world of professional sports, YOU are your own biggest obstacle. More precisely, it’s your mind: your thoughts about your obstacles.
Right on time for your run, it starts raining. What do you think?
- Alternative 1. - “Oh shit, not now, I can’t run in the rain, I’m going to lose the competition.”
Or,
- Alternative 2. - “OK, it started raining, I will have to adapt to this, the weather is out of my control. Some days it rains, other days it doesn’t. I’m prepared for the unforeseen, so I will make it work. I had sunshine in my mind when I woke up today, so despite the external factors, I will make my positive mindset my superpower in the rain.”
I used to be a semi-professional athlete. I played handball at the highest level, in Sweden and the USA. It’s me shooting in the picture. 12 workouts per week, very little rest, and lots of competition with the best to get a spot in the team for the next game or make the next cut for the National team. It was hard, but to be able to perform on top every single day, I had to use my energy wisely. My superpower was my sunshine within, and my ability to focus on what was within my control.
How did I manage to do this? I prepared for the worst and practiced dealing with things out of my control. I often worked out in rain, hard wind, and sometimes even snow. By preparing my body (and most importantly, my mind!) for challenging circumstances out of my control, it suddenly felt easier to do exactly the same workout in nice weather.
We can apply this athlete mindset to mental health. If you practice and do the “hard” things when you are in good mental health, you will be prepared for the days when you face mental illness. By prioritizing sleep, scheduling breaks in the day, being mindful of what content you consume daily, practicing single-tasking, learning to listen to your body and the stress signals it’s sending you by practicing meditation, starting to set boundaries in order to live a life in line with your values, and trying to let go of external factors outside of your control -- you will slowly but surely strengthen your “mental muscles” needed for when things get tough.
It will then be easier for you to bounce back because you know you have practiced to endure the rain, but with the huge difference now that you have the mental strength to decide to NOT STAY there. You are not a victim of your circumstances. You are NOT Alternative 1.
You CHOOSE sunshine. 🌞
