Just 3 weeks ago I had the privilege of being introduced to the manager of Lincoln City and to all the players. And it wasn't simply for the good of my, or their, health. Rather, I had been asked to present to the players on mental toughness in sport, how to develop it, and what makes people mentally tough. I delivered to a captivated audience on what it might take for the players to be mentally tough, great leaders and followers on the pitch, demonstrate resilience, and have the belief that they could outperform on any given day. I relied on a rich blend of current scientific research and practical experience of personally developing mental skills with a range of people, to deliver a powerful message.
After the Q&A, a couple of players approached me and asked some questions about the types of strategies they could use to help them to cope with a particular transition through which they were going. I noticed that the conversation with them covered a myriad of topics. During that chat, one of my prescribed suggestions was that the players actually write down what they are experiencing. And as I described one of the strategies to them, I could not help but think that I ought to take a drop of my own medicine. Without going into specifics, the players were asking me about coping strategies. I could not help but think of circumstances a little closer at heart, and whether the advice that I was giving could help me!
Sacre bleu (!!!) I thought, how revolutionary!!! Here I am struggling to cope with a significant life transition, yet I am offering advice on how others may wish to cope with transitions. How ironic is that? One of the pieces of advice that I gave to the players was how they should cope with emotions, and the advice was to keep a written log of emotions they experienced, and the associated self-talk. Self-talk being the conversations we have in our heads.
I also recalled my good friend and collaborator, Dr Jon Finn, who once suggested the works of James W. Pannebaker to me. Pannebaker has conducted and devoted significant amounts of time, effort, energy and his career, to research the benefits of coping with emotional events by writing about them. 'Simply writing about them?', you might say, 'how could that make a difference?'. Well Pannebaker, his collaborators and other academics have been able to demonstrate significantly that the simple act of writing about events, no matter how trivial they may seem, can actually result in mental and physical benefits for the writer.
Indeed, Pannebaker describes the natural response of many individuals when they receive some news. Typically, the response is to want to share that news be it good or bad, because ultimately that release makes the person communicating the message feel better. Being a psychologist, Pannebaker flips this on its head (excuse any pun), and has investigated the effects on people who actively hold back information, or inhibit the sharing of information and its associated emotions or thoughts. What is more startling, is that Pannebaker has linked inhibition, and its associated stressors, to a decline in the immune function, the action of the heart and lungs, and to a deterioration of the brain and nervous system. 'WOW!', you might say.
So, as I write these lines and I reflect on my own experience, my own health and how that could be back to where it was when I was racing hard. I share my thoughts and emotions with close friends about my own transition, and to all of you I am very grateful. You are the best!!
Writing this blog also feels like I am not inhibiting myself; I can share some thoughts with you. Maybe not all of them....Meanwhile, I wonder about the two football players and I wonder how much they are writing....as for the rest of the team.....well they have yet to lose a game since I spoke with them...they are coping and they believe....if they wrote things down, would they go on to meet the Manchester Uniteds of this world? ;)
