What would you do if you weren't afraid?
Turning 'I can't' into 'I can't YET'
With a conscious effort to adopt and apply the growth positive mindset to all aspects of my life this week saw me return to not one but two sports I have lost touch with.As promised I made a pledge to dust off my hockey stick and ditch the negative attitude. On Wednesday night I joined my friends, old and new, to play in my first hockey game since the arrival of my cellular traitor. Over the course of the day I could feel myself getting nervous. I had butterflies in my stomach, sweaty palms (not conducive to grasping a stick for 70 minutes!) and an internal battle in my mind. Over the past year I have desperately wanted to return to hockey but the fear of my body collapsing into a heap of exhaustion, anxiety of how poor my skills will be in addition to the prospect of people laughing at me has simply prevented me from returning to the pitch. Inspired by WSLA I have grown determined to overcome this. In the build up to the evening I just told myself 'the hardest part of any journey is the first step'.How did it go? It's safe to say I have a long way to go to get my fitness to where it was. Plus the FIH have introduced a couple of rules I need to get my head around but it was nowhere near as bad as I was expecting it to be. In the simplest of terms: it was fun!The following morning, feeling very stiff, my friends invited me to go swimming. On most occasions when I am invited to go swimming it involves a hot tub, sauna and a couple of lengths of granny style breastroke. This was not one of those invitations. These friends of mine are excellent swimmers: one swam competitively at Univeristy and the other (a qualified swim teacher) is training for a triathlon. Internally I found myself saying 'I can't!' Listing off 100 reasons why I shouldn't: I've not swam properly in over a decade, these guys are good, I am a poor swimmer and even worse, I'd need to be seen in a swim suit! Then I looked at the pictures I have printed out and stuck on a wall at work: It forced me to re-evaluate. I turned the 'I can't.' Into a 'I can't yet...' This resulted in me being in the pool at 6.50am the following day. Again, I was nervous, I had butterflies but thankfully nobody could tell I had sweaty palms. How did it go? I got cramp within the first four lengths and I struggled to control my breathing but at the end of the session I had swam over 1600m. Not bad for someone who has barely done a full length since being at school! To put it simply: I had fun!To most people this may appear like a really straightforward thing and perhaps it is but the power of a growth mindset not only supports you in achieving goals but it also opens opportunities you never knew existed. Playing hockey and being in the pool has led me to wonder what other exciting prospects I have missed out on purely because I focused on the 'I can't' opposed to the 'I can't yet...' This realisation is leading me to explore endeavours beyond sport and work. I am currently working on something very exciting which I've previously avoided because I was afraid of failing. It's going to take a lot of time, hard work and effort but I believe it'll be worth it. Watch this space!As I draw this entry to a close I share with you the words I have saved as the background on my mobile. Its time to ask yourself:
What would you do if you weren't afraid?
#FUCancer