Bad Days
Everyone has bad days. The days where nothing goes right. Your feet hit the ground in the morning, your whole body says go back to bed. So be it. You are going to get your ass kicked today. Maybe you won’t PR, or maybe you feel like you have never squatted before in your life. So be it. If you cannot cope with a bad day you do not deserve good one. Bad days are where you learn to be tough. It is really easy when things are going your way. Calm seas do not make good sailors.
Wrestling is one of the most unforgiving sports. When you roll into the room and you are not clicking, no one is going to show you mercy and no one should. When you are training to be the best, people going easy on you is not going to make you better. A firm ass kicking will. Every wrestler has had those days. The days you get beaten for two hours are the days that make the difference. The barbell is impartial. The barbell is going to be your objective measure.
People want everything to feel right. People have their comfort zones. They have their favorite barbell, pull up bar or set of rings. Once they get uncomfortable they can no longer perform. That is what bad days are for. Learn from your bad days. People need to learn to tough it out through bad days. Bad days hurt, mentally, emotionally and physically. When things get tough, is when you push. The fight begins when things get hard. We respect grit, we admi
Deal with it. Life is tough. The challenges in life are what mold people into what they can become. There is a misconception that the people make it to the top have a smooth ride. Nothing can be further from the truth. The people who attain the greatest heights have often had to overcome the greatest of challenges. Broken homes, poverty, learning disabilities are common among great achievers. Each bad day is a gift. Relish it. A bad day is an opportunity to display your poise and confidence that you will succeed in spite of hardship. Deal with it.
How to deal with it? Step back and assess what actually happened. Look objectively at the events, not how you felt about them, what actually happened. Many times the “Bad Day” isn’t really that bad, it just felt bad. Feelings are liars. Feelings will trick you into doubting.
Feelings are left overs of evolutionary fight or flight response. Every time to deal with hardship, know that is how you are earning your next great performance. So, your snatch for the day was 94% of your max when you wanted a PR. It is simply what you were able to do that day. You did your best under the circumstances and you will wake up tomorrow and fight again. You deal with it by enjoying the process. Have confidence in the process. Deal with it.
What do you do when you find a real issue? Deal with it. Maybe you find a skill you are truly not good at. Ask some questions: How can I get better at the skill? How can I break it down into small pieces to develop skills? How often should I practice the skill to overcome it. Who could help me to overcome my problem? Who do I know that has had the same problem? How did they get through it? Breaking it down and figuring it out is how you deal with it. If someone else has done it before, then so can you. If no one has done it before, smile and be the first.
Enjoy the process.
