“It’s not a mistake if you learn from it.”
But what about when you think you F-F-F….Failed?
Fact is, sometimes failure is just a huge mistake of monumental proportions that make you feel terrible, pretty crap, and miserable, so how do you pick back up and get on with it.
You learn from it. You pull that shitty moment apart, dissect it, separate the good from the bad even when you think there’s no good whatsoever, cause believe me, if you look hard enough, you will find some good amongst it.
This blog is my attempt to try and turnaround around a recent disaster meet for me at competition. I defied the odds, but not in a good way, I went into that meet the most experienced female lifter of the day and I bombed. Surprised myself and pretty much everyone else who knew me and if the earth could have opened and swallowed me up, at the time I would have jumped in with two feet.
While I try and help myself manage my own disappointment, I’m seeing a huge opportunity to help others. I am constantly telling clients to hit the reset button, so this is my chance to do that and lead from the front. This isn’t accepting mediocre or telling anyone its OK to be complacent, on the contrary. I’m hoping it helps someone else out there to hit reset so that they will push harder, further and achieve more without giving up.
Why share all this with you all?
- Because I’m human. Some clients might think otherwise but I’m here to tell you that us coaches do suffer a lot of the same trials and setbacks as everyone else. It isn’t any easier for us
- To remind everyone that the process is never a linear one constantly rewarding you with progress. Challenges come in and how we rise and response to them are important. Coming out the other side a little bashed up is ok, but you’ve got to get out to mend.
- I believe mistakes are a useful tool in our development and the second we learn from it, they’re no longer mistakes, they’re growth opportunities. Own your mistakes and grow from them, I know I will.
- To demonstrate to everyone that 1 moment doesn’t define you. The power lies within you to turn it around
I could waffle on but at this point it’s so important for me to bring this back to how I feel my experience and sharing it relates to clients that I deal with every day.
You’ll have your struggles, you will have the day that you will:
- eat poorly,
- have a bad session
- skip a workout
- allow yourself 1 drink and end up on a bender
- give in to all temptation and display zero self control or willpower
- want to give up cause it seems too hard
So many more examples to list, but let’s bundle it into one massive collective group as “all the crappy stuff”. It’s what happens next that really shows the metal of a person. This is where the magic happens. Are you snowballing into self pity, or picking it all back up? I hope for your sake it’s the later. I know I am, and it’s not cause I’m awesome, special or fabulous, it’s because I’m blessed to have the love and support of a fabulous family and gym family. People who believe in me probably more than I do in myself.
Find those people and so much of the pitfalls become irrelevant. Your focus shifts to becoming better and before you know it you have a plan for success, not failure (there’s the F word again). This is 100% what has helped me wade through this time and come back out the other side, ready to push myself. I’m ready to set some goals and go for it again, who is with me?