Mental Moment-theory vs reality

If I haven’t said this before I will say it now. I love what I do! I have the opportunity to work with great people! I have the chance to help people change their lives and for me there is no greater gift. In this life changing process there is always a realization that if you are not in the situation you are trying to change, i.e. audition, Olympics, business negotiations, etc., then we talk in theory, find ways to utilize new skills in other areas of your life and set up as many simulation experiences as we can. Sometimes that is not quite enough to feel like the actual experience and so it’s not until you are in that experience that you are able to test your new found skills.

One of my clients has just found herself in this situation. We had done a lot of work several months prior to the real life experience but she didn’t really have many opportunities to ‘try it out’. She found that her stress and anxiety were much better. She feels like she know’s when she has ‘control’ in a situation and is better able to take control of those situations. Her ability to take care of herself and her needs has increased. She’s had successes and that is increasing her confidence. Overall, she did a excellent job transferring what she had been working on. However some of the things that came up did present problems for her. This is growth. She’s found success in utilizing some of what we’ve talked about, struggled in other area’s but was aware that she was struggling and needing to deepen the work we were doing to fit the experiences that she was now finding herself in; theory vs real life.

Part of the learning is this: in life there are always going to be challenges. The best you can do is know this and make sure you have some good systems for dealing with whatever arises.

The other part of the learning is this: change and growth take time. As an Elite Performer this is the challenge. You are so used to ‘seeing’ physical challenges happen and probably didn’t realize there were mental and emotional aspects to your sport, art or music. Mental and emotional growth is not a straight line up. There are peaks, valleys and dips; as is the case with anything in life.

Happy Saturday!

Dr. Michelle