I am a very positive person, pretty much all of the time. I
like to keep my head in the clouds.... The view from up here is quite nice! My
glass is always half full. Every disappointment is a chance to only make myself
better next time... Anyway, you get the picture. There are situations though
that can start to weigh on me. I wanted to write a blog about the
"other" piece of my riding I am working on, the mental side.
I like to analyze things, all things really. I am a very
reflective person because that is what my job as a school teacher forces me to
do. I look at all types of data and determine, from that data, what the next
steps need to be. I am constantly reflecting and planning. With riding, I am no
different.
I make plans- a lot of them! Some of them are completely
unrealistic but fun to think about nonetheless. Then, I talk those plans over
with Megan, Jenn, Andrea, and Emily on Monday nights over Mexican food. Some of
my plans they like some of them they hate! I am ok with both. I am just glad
that we can all be honest with each other. I respect all of their opinions for
sure. The biggest difference, I feel, between us all is that they are
professionals so they get to set their calendar around important shows, etc. I
try to do the same but also have to take into account my work calendar. I tend
to panic when my plans don't materialize! I AM however, a firm believer that
everything happens for a reason. So for example, when I didn’t get to go to the
jumper show cause of the weather, I just said, "I just saved over $100 and
she's been jumping really well so I don't feel like I NEED to go but it would
have been fun!" I have had to train my way of thinking though and it is
not always that easy!
As I have said in earlier blogs, Craig Shegog, my show
jumping coach, is both my jumping coach and what I'd call the closest thing to
a life coach I have ever had. Not the kind of life coach that wants to discuss
the ins and outs of my crazy life! He knows I am a school teacher (or that I
have a job with summers off), he's met Tom and seen him a few times, and he
knows I teach a few clients but that's probably about all he knows about me
personally. However, when it comes to my riding, he knows more about my thought
process than I do. He knows what I am going to think about a riding situation
before I do and often how I will react. He knows and calls me on it when I am
not being mentally tough. He knows that sometimes I bring up mistakes I have
made in lessons YEARS ago, and that I can have 100 good jumps and one
"bad" one and the one bad one stays with me longer than the 100 good
ones! He knows Frankie is a different horse from her left side to her right
side, and he know that mentally, I can get in my own way by overthinking
everything.
We have really been working on demising the ability that I
have to get in my own way, but it a daily task. He never dismisses any of my thoughts
or makes me feel stupid for asking questions or making a statement and he
always addresses my "concerns." We start every lesson with a brief
discussion about what Frankie has done the previous days, how she was or what I
felt, and what needs to happen the following week. Another thing he has been
doing since very early on is recommending sports psychology books for me to
read. He has read many himself and says with a library card, it's the cheapest
coaching I can get because I have the tools and ability, I just have to put it
all together.
I have found that many of the books written for the game of
golf, can pertain to riding. The last book I read was Life is not a Game of
Perfect by Dr. Bob Rotella. It had several good points about working hard
and not selling yourself short and about how to train your thinking to reach
your full potential. Here are just two pages that I found interesting about
thinking you "did you best."
I found this interesting even as a teacher because I wonder
how many times I have given work back to students and lead them to believe they
have done the best they can? And if I have done that, have I limited them in
the future. Have I limited myself at times? I highlighted many parts in the
book and will skim through them from time to time for sure.
I am now reading this book. If nothing else, reading fills
my mind with other thoughts.
If you have any good books you have read and would like to share them with me, I'd love to read them! Until next time, think you are awesome and believe in your dreams!
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