Forward Progress

How are you feeling?

What are you thinking about all of this?

It’s incredibly inspiring to think about how different things are today compared to just one short week ago. Yes, the negative impact of Covid-19 has increased dramatically, but what’s also increased is the amount of community support for those in need, social media live streams covering a variety of topics, and problem solving happening to keep forward progress in schools and workplaces.

So I’ve been asking myself those same questions:

How am I feeling? The answer…although we’ve been asked to practice social distancing, I feel more socially connected. I am physical distancing while feeling connected.

What am I thinking about this? I am thinking that this is unchartered territory. Everyone has their own opinions on how best to manage, cope, deal in times like this, but I know the only person that knows what’s right for me…is me.

And so my hope is to always be a source of perspective - positive, but also human - on how to view the world and our role in it. Take it or leave it. If you’re willing to dig in, you will find that you always know the answer and you’re always right.

When it comes to situations like what we are facing these days, when you are able to go through these new and different circumstances and use it as a opportunity to process emotion, you will come out on the other side a stronger person AND athlete.

In the last week alone, I’ve gone from motivated and inspired to sad and resentful and back again, all with an underlying level of functional anxiety that I just live with daily. Talk about emotional rollercoaster! But the rollercoaster didn’t just appear. Like most people, I experience all kinds of emotions all of the time. They would have been there with or without Covid-19.

Recognizing that reminds me that what’s happening in the world is always neutral. No matter how bad it seems. It’s only bad because I think it’s bad. And my willingness to feel sad and resentful means I’m human. Luckily for all of us, we have the capacity to process emotions to find forward progress.

If you find yourself not training right now, check in and ask yourself: How are you feeling? What are you thinking about all of this? Are you buffering because you don’t want to feel?

This could be the best opportunity to learn how to feel.

Because if you can learn how to process your emotions now when the world is changing, circumstances are out of your control, and headlines want to scare you then think about the athlete you will be with a new level of emotional resiliency. When I say emotional resiliency, I don’t mean being strong enough not to feel. I mean being strong enough TO feel. Which is exactly what we need on the race course too.

It begins with a willingness. A willingness to ask the questions and listen. A willingness to feel. To literally feel anything that comes up and be kind to yourself in the process.

And then create your emotional resiliency by sitting with those emotions and finding the path that allows you to continue forward progress towards your goals.

Now is not the time to back down, now is the most important time to rise up.

I WORK WITH TRIATHLETES 1:1 AND TEACH YOU HOW TO CREATE EMOTIONAL RESILIENCY. SCHEDULE A FREE CONSULT CALL BELOW.