𝗟𝗲𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝗱 𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗯𝗲 𝗢𝗡𝗘 𝗯𝗮𝗱 𝗱𝗮𝘆!

Recently, I competed at an aged event with my family. I found it a tough competition.

Although I thought I was there mentally, I realised on the first day of the comp that I was nowhere near being my mentally tough self. I had a difficult first day; tough cows, tough draws, and I’d had a disagreement with my husband. And although I was happy with my horses & I was aware of the dynamics that were at play, I just couldn’t get myself back to where I needed to be mentally to ‘show-up’ in the arena.

I have spoken to quite a few other competitors about this from time to time and I know they have felt the same misalignment. You’re aware that you are just not ‘there’ mentally on a particular day, but the question is, 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦? Your “𝘮𝘰𝘫𝘰”?

I tried all my normal routines. I got up early and went for a run, I tried to focus on the process, be present in every aspect of the preparation, concentrate on one thing at a time, deleted outside distractions like social media, nourished my body with good nutrition, went to bed early to catch up on rest & I called my mentors and asked for real and honest feedback about what they were seeing as I competed on that day and how I could improve.

It wasn’t until one of these mentors sent me a funny video the next morning that I actually seemed to snap out of it & get myself back into the game on a mental level. And although it is not an appropriate video to share in this space, the message was basically “Let one bad day be ONE bad day. It’s ok to have a bad day, but don’t let it hold so much power over you. Tomorrow is a new day”.

From here I went on to final my horses in the Non-Pro Futurity, Derby & Classic.

Sometimes we need these people in our lives to remind us not to take ourselves too seriously. Humour can be a great leveller and I am very grateful for the people in my life who can make me laugh just at the right time.

Lynda xx