My game face - No fear here!
If you know me you know that I am not adventurous. I don’t like taking risks. I am logical, I think things through and always make the smartest choices.
Yawn…I know.
I can remember the first time I tried snowboarding and how much I sucked at it. It was because the risk was so high. To be good at snowboarding you have to let go, you can’t be hesitant. You have to feel the ride not THINK about it. These are all things that go against my nature.
I can think back to a few life decisions where I KNOW I made the right choice – It just wasn’t always the most fun. But lately that’s been changing. I don’t know if it’s because I feel so comfortable with my life right now or if it’s because I’m getting old.
But old habits die hard. When the opportunity to sign up for roller derby came, I was super excited…but I almost talked myself out of it. Thankfully, I did what I do best and I re-analyzed myself and admitted what I was doing. I removed the clutter from my mind, got my equipment and I’ll have my first practice in less than a week.
So, how did I get to that point?
1. I stopped making excuses – I can talk my way out of anything. I can always over-analyze and nit pick every detail. Sure, roller derby was super expensive, yes, practices are difficult to get to, fine, it’s totally happening on short notice. BUT WHO CARES? It’s fun and I want to do it. Shouldn’t that be all that matters?
2. I thought about the good - I came up with plenty of good reasons why I shouldn’t do it. But that also meant I could think about 10 times as many reasons why I should do it. I shifted my thinking from negative to positive and it totally changed my frame of mind.
3. I shared my excitement - Support really goes a long way. I shared my equipment buying experience on Twitter and Facebook and got back fun responses, some from people I didn’t expect. People were asking what league I joined or what my derby name would be (I’m thinking of sticking with ZoeDisco, but I am open to suggestions). The most encouraging is when people tell me that I would be perfect for this sport. I mean, with that kind of encouragement, how can I go wrong?
4. I visualized (or had a fun fantasy) – All of the best coaches and athletes say that you have to visualize what you want to get there. On my commute home I used I used the alone time to imagine what my outfit would look like, I thought about my friends and family in the crowd cheering me on. I thought about how awesome I would be at this sport.
All of this restructured, positive thinking really got me excited. Most importantly, it helped to confirm that not only was I making the fun choice, I was also making the smart one.
