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Mindset Mastery eNewsletter
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Injuries suck.
The joy of testing your limits, connecting with like-minded people, and doing what you love is suddenly stripped away.
During the uncertain times of recovering from an injury, it’s easy to get sucked into the pain cave. But, is there a better way?
Can you take advantage of using mental training to aid in your recovery?
Joel Hatch, co-founder of Trail Manners a podcast series for trail runners, contacted me for an interview on just that. Joel had an injured friend who wanted to know the optimal way to psychologically deal with an injury and what tools can be acquired during the recovery process.
I was psyched for the interview as this topic is close to my heart.
Because of my own athletic injuries in high school, my chosen career path was athletic training. For several years I practiced as a certified an athletic trainer for youth, collegiate, and Olympic athletes.
What I came to realize is that I not only helped athletes heal their injuries through physical rehab but more importantly I helped athletes recover from the mental misery of enduring an injury so that they could confidently return to play, which is one of reasons I quit my athletic training career, pursued a sport psychology doctorate degree, and started my business Mindset.
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- Go F.A.R.
- Create a Suffering Inventory
- Reframe the Blame
- Mindfulness Meditation for Pain & Recovery
- Jar of Awesomeness
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For a sneak peek into the interview, Go F.A.R. stands for:
Feel:
Injuries can sometimes be traumatic.
Rather than deny your emotions and let them build until you burst, allow yourself to feel into hurt, anger, frustration, disappointment, or despair (this is also true for a crappy training day or poor performance).
Honor the present –even if it’s darkness.
As the adage goes, “This too shall pass”.
Accept:
Pain is our resistance.
Holding onto tension wastes precious energy.
You can waste energy fighting against not wanting to be injured or you can accept your current situation and find ways to make the hardship an opportunity to make you stronger.
Can you embrace the change versus fight against it?
Recover:
I know how hard it can be to feel and accept (I’m not always that great at allowing my emotions to surface), but once you’ve made these adjustments you’re in a better head space for a speedy recovery.
For example, have you ever went into a training session and felt like crap?
Did you show up anyway and found a way to move on…maybe even had a superb training session?
You are practicing resilience.
And you can drum up these resources, and even refine them, during the injury recovery process so that you are mentally stronger and more confident for your return to sport.
For more mental training tips, Click Here to listen to the 53-minute interview.
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-Chris
p.s. The sports psychology book is off to the publisher...in print around October 2017
p.s.s. Follow me on Instagram @mindsetdr for a weekly nugget of wisdom
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Do you have a friend who would benefit from this information?
Then forward this and share the love.
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Go beyond what you think you are capable of doing!
Contact Chris to see how she can speak to your athletes, coaches, parents, or administration on mental training for sports or wellness. Sessions are in-person, phone, Skype or FaceTime.
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