This is going to sound like a shot across the bow, but it isn’t, it’s pure observation.
Difficult sessions, bad weather, apathy, boredom, cross winds, crossed wires, you name it, there is a reason to talk yourself out of it when it gets hard.
You wouldn’t believe how many people just pull the pin on it. Critically though, this is where the difference between those that will, do, and those who won’t, don’t.
Now, this is not to say you should put yourself through hell when you are exhausted, sick, stressed out of your brain or injured.
So there are two choices; act or react. People tend to react by throwing in the towel and not doing the session, and that’s fair enough. If you make the call not to follow through with a session, that’s fine, but then leave it alone.
So here’s the rub, missing the session is not the problem, it’s the self-berating inner voice that is giving you the arse kicking, that is the real issue. Because by the time tomorrow rolls around you are going to be exhausted from your own self-talk.
So, from the power of observation, I tell you straight up, this is how form slumps occur.
This is exactly how and why you give up.You are more frightened of your own self-talk than you are of the session and it’s dragging you in a loop that is going to end up with you losing your enjoyment of the sport.
It’s got very little to do with your physical capacity. Try and see what’s true here. You talk yourself into sessions, you talk yourself out of sessions. You judge how the session went. If it doesn’t meet your expectations, arse kicking.
If it does meet expectations, you project it into the next session, setting yourself up for more arse kicking, because dude, it can’t possibly meet that expectation every day, it’s mentally and physically impossible.
So, just stop it!
What I’ve noticed with those that repeat again and again is that they are mental Teflon. None of the shit is sticking because they don’t listen to their own negative self-talk.
This isn’t to say the dialogue is going to stop, it won’t, it don’t. You just observe that self-talk in yourself and rise above it, you hear it and do it anyway. You stay present with the session and use as little head noise as possible and the next thing you know, the session is over, and oh, wow, I really enjoyed that.
So when that voice rises in you tomorrow and tries to talk you out of it again, you realise that you are settling yourself up for self-defeat.
We only defeat ourselves, no one does it to us, the world isn’t conspiring against you.
See it as it really is.
It’s all happening inside you!
Gilesy.