Midset Transformation
By Sarah Willis, PhD
I have learned to trust in the process, as it takes time and effort to adjust our behavior/patterns/coping mechanisms. It takes time to transform our minds and have a renewed mindset that is set on the truth. Personally, I look to God and seek Him while praying about everything. I am working on surrendering and becoming more specific in my prayers.
As we learned in a previous article, stress is very prevalent in most of our lives. The symptoms of stress can affect many systems of our bodies, as well as our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. It is important to learn how to handle or cope with the stresses we experience, as not dealing with stress in a healthy way can lead to health problems especially cardiovascular diseases such as heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, obesity, and diabetes.
Let’s explore what coping mechanisms are by first understanding that “good” or “healthy” strategies actively address the root cause of stress/difficult emotions with healthy activities such as exercising, going for a walk, yoga; being mindful through meditation, journaling, deep breathing exercises; talking to friends and family or seeking professional help; using creativity such as writing or playing music; identifying the issue in active work to find a solution; eating and maintaining a balanced diet; getting quality sleep; etc. Healthy mechanisms such as these address the underlying issues and promote overall well-being and help manage emotions in a healthy way.
The “bad” or “unhealthy” coping strategies usually involve avoiding or suppressing problems with momentary relief with unhealthy habits such as ignoring or denying problems and keeping them hidden, emotional eating, self-harm, excessive spending, constantly dwelling on negative thoughts, social isolation, excessive use of drugs/alcohol/sex, and even overindulging in social media, etc. These unhealthy strategies are associated with further problems later in life and tend to provide temporary relief but exacerbate negative emotions.
I would strongly encourage you to take a moment now and reflect on what coping strategies you use to handle stress. They may be included in this article but also maybe not. Open your mind and think about your life and how you go through stressful situations. For me, I look back to things I did as a young child, things that I may continue to do now, maybe even things that I developed during traumatic or difficult times of my life. This is an interesting process to step into, so grab a journal/note and jot some things down…
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So, how do we find a peaceful and calm state? Think of our parasympathetic nervous system which regulates our body to decrease our heart rate, as we relax and settle ourselves down, towards sleep and a resting state. Being able to understand our body and these signals of stress will help us to acknowledge and stimulate our parasympathetic nervous system for recovery and restoration. This general path will allow us greater ease in this world and can be very helpful to focus on relaxation in moments prior to competition, sleep, or after stressful exercise and experiences.
I believe that all things happen for a reason. When there is great challenge/difficulty – this experience is there to help shape us and is an opportunity to grow into the person we are meant to become. Willingness is the ‘key’ to healing. Once you can identify things from your past or present (childhood, trauma, relational situations, addictions, etc.) that you need to heal from, then YOU are the only one who can do the work to heal and overcome (no one else can decide for you or make you do the work, it has to come from you). If you want it, then let’s dig deeper.
While faith and religion work for me we recognize it is not part of everyone's daily life. However, the mental exercises of reframing and perspective are common tools for all elite level athletes. Recognizing what grounds you in your daily life WILL lead to better stress mitigation and higher performance.
With all of this, I encourage you to dig deeper into your life. Take a moment to reflect – even during a training session – or better yet with a warm beverage and a journal.
Think about questions such as:
- What things have happened to you/have you experienced throughout your life? (what stands out, are there challenging times?) What are you currently going through? What has been (or currently is) difficult for you?
- Further, how have you reacted? How have you felt during these experiences? Are there any patterns you can identify related to your belief systems (i.e., how you were rooted in your ways)?
By looking deeper and beginning to understand where we come from and the root of our challenges, we can start processing and acknowledge what troubles us while also seeing what we need help healing from.
It is so important to share your story with a trusted and safe person (a family member/friend/coach) and get vulnerable. With this, get ready for how your relationship grows, but also be aware of your mind as you feel a greater sense of freedom and peace.
Prioritize yourself to allow your heart to heal, voice to be heard, and let others in to share the journey. It is not easy, it is not going to be easy, but it will be worth it, trust me on this one.
Not all days will be smooth sailing, we live in a challenging world, but keep chipping at the tough stuff and trust that you will find forward momentum, energy, and inner strength. This process will give you much freedom and peace…and with that will come transformation of your mind, allowing your body to respond in new ways and shape healthy strategies to cope with stress and tough experiences.
In time, this will impact your day-to-day mindset and ultimately lead to a positive effect for your athletic performance (and many areas of your life…health, relationships, career, family, social, etc.).
I hope this can become a guide to developing inner strength and confidence in vulnerability moving forward. Let this new year be a time to reflect, but also to move towards inner healing. Having a healthy and happy spirit will transform your performance capacity and allow you to reach new levels, I can feel it. Take a moment for yourself to reflect. Then share with someone, maybe even a professional, be vulnerable and dig deep in there. Watch your mind be transformed to help you find healing and health, furthering your ability to properly cope with stress and watch your performance thrive. I’m with you, let’s do this!