There's No Crying in Baseball (+ other sports myths)

I’m tired of hearing people say there’s no place for emotion in sports.

That’s just not true.

Feelings are part of the human experience. And, whadaya know, you’re human!

Your favorite athlete? Also humans.

Emotions are there for several very good reasons including this one:

If you’re ignoring them, you’re missing the messages they're trying to convey.

For example, when you’re feeling a negative emotion, that’s your human side pointing out ‘there's something not right here.’ It’s a warning system; a signal letting you know more investigation is needed. It wants you to ask the question … in fact, it’s your body’s way of begging you to ask the question:

Why am I feeling this way?

And that’s where the good stuff is.

The same is true for positive feelings. Depending on what you’re feeling, you can ask yourself:

• What about this feels (insert a description of the emotion or the emotion itself)? What about this feels good? What about this leads me to feel joy? What about this feels bad? What about this leads me to feel frustration?

• What’s going right? What could I do differently?

• What can I learn from this to make it repeatable and even better? What can I learn to avoid feeling this way again? How can I interrupt or reduce the negative emotion next time?

So go on, feel those feelings. Harness those emotions. And make them work for you.

They really are there to help you. And so am I.

Keep on feeling ALL of it,

Lauren

BTW: That crying in baseball? No one wants to be the one crying. But it happens. Every athlete has been there or can imagine it. The best ones learn from it instead of letting it rule them. Practicing with smaller emotions is a great place to start.