In a previous Substack, I talked about the value of competing in combat sports (you can read it here).
Now, whenever I talk about this, people like to highlight the fact that there is a risk of serious injury. Those people are 100% right of course. There is a change of injury. Just like you could die in traffic.
Every year, 1.35 million people die in traffic. That is about 3700 people per day. There’s not a lot to add to this. Just realize that being alive and going outside comes with a risk of dying. But when you drive a car or bike you don’t think about that do you?!
If you’d think about it daily, you’d give yourself the kiss of death. So what does that mean exactly? The kiss of death is the idea that whenever you pursue something, and focus on a negative outcome, you eventually create that negative outcome. Saying stuff like I might get hurt really bad in there or I might die in there won’t do you any good.
Because you increase the changes of it happening with this mindset! Do you really think thinking something like this will do you any favors? You might as well just throw in the towel or never go outside again.
Because focusing on a negative outcome will put you in a constant state of doubt and fear. It will affect your performance/life . You will be timid. You’ll get in your own head and won’t see things clearly. And once you actually do feel pain, you’ll completely shut down.
Because you’re so afraid of getting hurt/dying that you do everything to avoid it. The only issue is that the antidote to all of this is living life/going through the pain. The people that are afraid never actually live life or they try but stop doing so because their fears became reality. Not because they lacked skills but because they were too scared to showcase their skills.
It’s like trying to drive a car while constantly using the brake instead of using the gas pedal. All of that stuff is in your head, none of it is real. The majority of the time it’s people being scared of the unknown, other times it’s fear based on past experiences.
But just because something can happen doesn’t mean it actually will happen. You’re just creating ‘what if’ scenarios in your head. And by doing that, you’re wasting valuable energy that could be directed towards focusing on a positive outcome.
Focus on the positive outcome and accept that you might get hurt competing. Because you will never be able perform at your full potential if you give yourself the kiss of death.
So why are you pushing the brakes? Why are you holding yourself back? Why don’t you step on the gas?
Your “what if…” might as well be a “never happened”.
Until next time
Alex