Changing Your Thinking When Your Emotional Outlet Is Out of Reach
No sports means no more emotional outlet for those who rely on athletics to help keep their mental health in check. False.
There are limitless ways to cope with the halt in athletics. True.
There is no room for growth in a COVID-19 world. False.
The following can apply to anyone in this situation regardless of what they might be currently without. True.
You CAN change your thinking. TRUE.
Starting Point: Check Your Mindset
With school comes learning. But learning isn’t limited to the classroom. For many, school is where they’ll learn to discover themselves, their passions, and their goals. I know I did. From the time I was in middle school, I was participating in sports and sports leagues. And that’s the case for countless students. Some will start on this path from an early age because they rely on it for scholarships later in their careers, others because they love the game, the feeling, or the bragging rights. But whatever the reason, there is one undisputed thing that any sport or athletics brings to the participant: outlet. Whether you participate at a recreational level or an elite level, exercise provides emotional catharsis. With schools closed, all the children, teens, and athletes who rely on these programs are finding themselves deprived of the therapeutic release they get from moving and sometimes competing. Not only this, but children and athletes alike are finding themselves suddenly separated from the collaborative mindset that most sports bring to the table. This can be a traumatizing shock.
As an elite Paralympic swimmer, I’ve had to adjust as well. The pool was the time where I could leave all my worries on deck and focus on the water. It was methodical. Work on my technique, swim the workout, and focus on the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Trials. When all of the pools and facilities closed as a result of COVID-19, I felt distraught and without direction. Not only was everything uncertain, but I no longer had a place to tackle my emotions and find peace. Without the comfortable guidance offered by the 4 walls of a pool, I felt like I was floating in space: so many possibilities and no way of knowing where I was going. Without swimming, I thought that all of the time I’d put into my training had been squandered. I tried to find my way back to the water in any way possible and even went as far as suiting up and taking a dive in the heavy Springtime snow. This wasn’t necessarily a solution, but it was my first step towards figuring things out.
Give Yourself Time To Get The “Quarantine Confusion” Out of Your System (It’s a process.)
At the beginning of any radical change, it’s normal to feel like a stranger in your own environment. Sometimes you just need to let things fall into place on their own. Visit this insightful post about bored quarantined kids for some advice on this if you might be struggling with building a new day-to-day, especially if you have children at home.
Right at the beginning, I spent some time wearing my swim cap around the house and “swimming” around in my bathtub. I let it go on for a bit back when people were still hoarding toilet paper. But then it was evident that a change needed to occur. More specifically, I needed to change my thinking before all else.
Reassessing Your Reality
I’m a visual learner and like to put things on paper. So I took to my journal and made some bullet points:
- Beyond doing my part to not further spread the virus, I cannot change the current situation we are all facing right now.
- I can, however, change my thinking.
- I can also find a new outlet.
- This extra time can be turned into something positive.
- You can have more than one dream.
I hovered on my first bullet point because I’m never thrilled about instilling the notion that “you can’t modify or impact the grand scale of things.” Because that’s not true. You have a part to play, and what you choose to do in this world will affect the bigger picture. Everyone can always do their part to promote change, but the fact is that one person can’t hold the world’s weight. If you’re looking to change something big, there’s a chance you might need more than one entity involved in the movement. But again, it’s essential to do your part. By wearing a mask, practicing safe distancing measures, and holding myself accountable, I’m already taking steps towards the change I’d like to see. In the meantime, it’s crucial to accept that beyond these personal measures, you can’t go back to a pre-COVID world overnight. In fact, we never will. Every day is a “new normal” because with every day comes change.
As a Paralympic swimmer, I firmly believe in the fact that you can always approach things differently. My life relies on adapting. When I first acquired my disability, physically adjusting to my new reality was crucial. If I’d refused to change my thinking at the time, I’d still be staring at my shoelaces waiting for them to tie themselves. Instead, I dove in headfirst as if starting a new race and began relearning life with one arm. Similarly, now is the time for everyone to be malleable when it comes to how they operate. Your mind is as much a part of your body as any other. So yes, you can’t always change the situation, but you certainly can change your approach. Your family’s regular activities have been put on hold? Challenge yourself to not dwell on what cannot be and find an alternative.
Many start off the year saying “2020 is the year I [blank].” As for me, I said, “2020 is the year I go to the Paralympic Swimming Trials.”
New Year's Resolutions Aren’t Etched In Stone. (There aren’t enough rocks in the world.)
What else can you do?
Taking measures to benefit the larger narrative is excellent, but you need to advocate for yourself and your personal mental [and physical] health in the process. Since an immediate return to pre-COVID routines isn’t near, the first step I took was to change my thinking. Instead of saying:
“2020 is the year I go to the Paralympic Trials.”
*[not only to perform, but for the sake of good health.”]
“2020 is ALSO the year:
where I embrace the pause I’ve been given to heal my injuries without guilt.”
where I do something to move towards my goals every day without exception.”
where I radically accept the change that is upon myself and use it to my advantage.”
My first 2020 resolution initially seemed big. Now it appears so small. It was one thing, one goal, and although significant in theory, it was narrow in scope. It made my world constricted. Ironically, it took a world-wide government-issued “lockdown” to widen my compass.
My point is that your world is only as big as your thinking. Physical growth starts with mindful expansion. Understanding that you can have more than one dream is abating. It’s something I wish I’d believed when I was growing up because I felt like I always had to pour my heart and all of my energy into one passion at a time. Suddenly, I’m seeing that it’s the union of all these dramatically different qualities that give me strength. Which brings me back to what I mentioned earlier. Contrary to my initial belief, any time spent training will never be wasted, despite athletics being postponed. It has only fed my experience and given me more to learn from.
Schools might be closed and programs put on hold, but there is so much more. Still, I refuse to be deceitful, so as most already know, staying home is hard. But one thing that I’ve found helps is some form of discipline. If you (or your child) are an athlete, chances are you’re already ingrained with some kind of self-discipline. In the present moment, discipline might not refer to showing up to a tournament or going to practice, but it can still be put to work. It’s tempting to slack off during all the extra time, but at the end of the day, I’ve found that working towards my objectives fills the void left by the blockaded pools. Acknowledging what I want and devising a plan to tackle these objectives is a new outlet.
The best part?
When things start up again, I’ll still have these supplemental goals and dreams to bolster my former lonely vision of just focusing on athletic success. I will be coming out of the crisis with more than I had before it took place.
Just like you’d seek to come out of a practice or training session just a little bit stronger than when you entered it. I’m viewing this global crisis as an opportunity to practice new self- development methods so that I can come out on the other side, not just a little bit stronger, but fresh and unfaltering.
The growth that’s taken places across the world during this crisis is remarkable. This era has often been referred to as “the digital age,” Now we’ve entered a rapidly reinvented format of virtual living. This is the incredible closeness in our distance. It will propel the further expansion of our abilities to seek answers and peace from what lies right in front of us in the present moment. With this, online platforms such as Joven Health are indispensable to the up and coming generations. If you’re looking for more information on the unfaltering benefits of such resources to help your family out on this journey, this page detailing the advantages of online counseling is a beautiful starting point.
Training your muscles isn’t everything. And setting aside the constant strength and cardio for a bit has allowed me to focus on retrieving a state of mind that I once possessed at a younger age. This was the state of mind where I believed that I could be a writer, artist, athlete, and fairy princess. And the state of mind where I thought that I didn’t have to choose just one because all together these things make someone different and more intricately fused. This was the thinking that taught me not to fear a change in paths and, most importantly, not to falter when life calls for you to change your thinking.
