At tonight's Zoom meetup, we looked at an example of an Olympian who overcame an injury that took far longer to rehab than anticipated. Sara Wells eventually achieved her goal and now leads a program dedicated to building self-belief and resilience in young students and athletes. We then saw a quick video that documents how athletes who had expected to be preparing for the Olympics are now creatively and resiliently continuing their training.
Our Lansing athletes are a part of a world-wide community of athletes who are using the adaptability and flexibility they have developed on the track to now navigate uncertain times. And these uncertain times offer our athletes a chance to strengthen their self-belief as well as their mental resilience and stamina. It's normal to have moments of doubt, dismay, or even despair. It's important to acknowledge those feelings. It's critical to then do the next right thing with those feelings. You might find yourself thinking: "Why me?" Why is this happening? Why is my season/spring/school year/event I was anticipating ruined? Make a shift. Ask yourself next: Why NOT me? Why not be the one whose success story we watch in ten years includes this obstacle and how you overcame it? Be the star of your own video that we'll be inspired by. Another shift: rather than thinking about all the things you can't do right now, think about all the things you CAN do. The creative training examples in the video above are a great start. And a video we shared featuring Kobe Bryant reminds us that this time at home is an opportunity to improve our sleep habits and hone our meditation skills. If you want to try a short meditation, check this out. The Headspace and Calm apps also have free versions that are excellent. Kobe recommends meditating first thing in the morning. Other people prefer to meditate just before bed as it can aid sleep. Personally, I have made it the last part of my stretching routine. Each day that I work out, I stretch and then take five more minutes to meditate. On my days off, I carve out 5-20 minutes to meditate during the time I would have been working out. In a world where, even when we are all staying at home, there are endless distractions as close as our phone, taking the time to "be where our feet are," to be in our bodies, is a gift we give to ourselves and will pay dividends in our sport, studies, and relationships to others and ourselves.
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