Sports Psychology and the art of feeling good about yourself....or not
Former Member
Confession time: I struggle with a committee in my head (and I've tried to ignore 'em) that tells me things like...."you suck"..."you'll never get any better", blah blah blah.
Now that BillS has encouraged me to delete that dreaded work from my lexicon, I am sure that another one will pop up.
I know this is kind of a rant....but how does one really feel good about themselves as a swimmer yet avoid being delusional? Seriously....how do you keep a balance of positive thinking while being able to honestly regard how you swim and what needs to change/improve?
What do you guys do? Is it good coaching, simply having a solid self esteem in the first place....?? Is it simply that people carry their low self esteem into the water...if so, how do you overcome that...?
Thoughts?? What in the world is sports psychology anyway?
Parents
Former Member
Give it time. You should be able to feel how good you are when you swim. Balance is applicable to all aspects of your life so work on your general self-esteem. Try not to compare yourself to other people, because everybody's body is different and works differently. Do the best you can.
You might try reading some of the interviews at www.usolympicteam.com. Athletes from a variety of disciplines have discussed how to deal with failure and frustration and it helped me a lot.
Give it time. You should be able to feel how good you are when you swim. Balance is applicable to all aspects of your life so work on your general self-esteem. Try not to compare yourself to other people, because everybody's body is different and works differently. Do the best you can.
You might try reading some of the interviews at www.usolympicteam.com. Athletes from a variety of disciplines have discussed how to deal with failure and frustration and it helped me a lot.
