By Shauney Watson
Sport is a funny thing. It's something you only really get if you do it, and even then it's not easy to understand. Why do we do it? For money? Rarely. For fame? About 95% of us will agree that's never gonna happen. What about for the love? Well, even then we all go through the patches of being frustrated at not 'getting it right', or wondering why we endure the hours of pain when we get very, very little back.
I'll tell you what we do it for: we do it for validation. If we can just beat that one opponent, hit that bullseye, ride that perfect course, we would be doing something worthwhile; making ourselves worthwhile. We would have put in the work and reaped a reward. Put something in, get something out - it's fair and square, and makes sense. We need validation that reliability does exist because it can be hard to believe sometimes, as I'm sure you'll agree. And being successful also makes us valid in this world, so when we are given the chance to feel some of this success through sport, we jump at it. How many times have you put in the hard work at your job and received no recognition? Paid the bills, washed the clothes, cooked the meals and received no thanks? Done a job and not been paid by your client? Are you catching my drift here?
Now, don't get me wrong, when I say 'success' I don't necessarily mean gold cups and sashes. We all measure success differently. Some, I'm sure, would say having a rock solid body from the hours of rowing they put in is success enough for them. Others, just the endorphin kick from a hundred reps on the weights at the end of a long day. What I'm saying here is that success for you is just the thing you count as the pay-off.
The problems come when we start putting in the work but not reaping the reward, because then what's the point? And, more often than not, this problem is caused by that demon lurking at the back of our mind, screwing up the way we think, behave and perform.This demon can be anything from not feeling like you've got the abilities, to not having had any praise as a child, to a mental block regarding some aspect of your sport e.g. a certain opponent. Actually, for some of us there's a whole team of the little s***s back there, and they gradually ruin what is supposed to be our sport, our validation, our me time. The problem is further exacerbated by the fact we will often do anything in our power to pretend they aren't there, going out of our way to avoid the issue and battle on regardless. Unfortunately sport is something you learn to be resilient, determined and wilful through, so we usually have the lasting mindset of 'why wouldn't a bit of willpower work for this?'. I'll tell you why: willpower is exhaustible and, though it works when fighting for something positive (one last push on the track, five more lengths of the pool) , it doesn't work when fighting off something negative. The negativity always wins out.
You've got to get right back there, to the back of your mind, and find the perpetrators that are causing all your troubles. Once you've found them, you've got to face them head on, quash them, then replace them with something positive and useful before you can get back to doing what you enjoyed doing in the first place. Your sport.
Written out here, it sounds easy. But, to be honest, it can be the hardest thing you'll ever have to do, depending on how long those demons have been there and how deeply rooted they are. This is where hypnotherapy can help. Someone with the know-how and the expertise can guide you through every step of the above 'demon-clearing-exercise' and help get you back to performing at your best, sometimes even a whole lot better. It's not magic, trickery or showmanship, nor is it someone taking control of your mind. No one other than you can do that. It is simply the best damn way to recover or improve your performance without a single gadget or drug.
Visit the Personal Best Hypnotherapy Sports Page for more information.
Pictures: Kynard (cjonline.com); Tyson and Holyfield (versedonline.com); Al-Malki (bbc.co.uk); man lifting weight (gettyimages.com); Ballack (spox.com)
