Redefining Work in Athlete Mental Health

Redefining what “work” means in mental health can have a significant meaning for athletes. That’s because work and emotions have a heated history in the competitive space. After all, athletes strive to be both mentally and physically tough, and in essence, unbreakable.

“Do the work regardless of how you feel.”

This is a common phrase heard by trainers, coaches, and even teammates in locker rooms and training facilities. While this may be a way to motivate an individual because it is true that sometimes we all have to do things that we don’t feel like doing to get to where we want to go, it also sends a message that personal feelings don’t matter. There’s certainly a place for this in athletic competition, but how far does that go in the individual’s life outside of sports? Where can they get the release they need?

When athletes learn that “feelings” don’t matter in their sport, they also have to learn the duality that their emotions and thoughts do matter elsewhere. They don’t just disappear because the player ignores them or puts them aside to get the work done.

Let’s reframe what “work” means:

In mental wellness, you have to work for peace and clarity. Why? Because life happens and it’s not always pleasant. Everyone has buttons that will be pushed because each individual experiences life differently. We might have commonalities, but our experiences and beliefs are the lenses through which we view life. Sometimes shit will get to you, and sometimes that sits deep.

Most people learn that the word “work” means doing something unpleasant to reach a result. While mental wellness work may not always be comfortable (healing and growing are almost never comfortable), it’s important to reframe what that means.

For example, work in this regard might mean taking a break or a self-care day to reset your mindset. For a lot of people, especially competitively driven athletes, rest is an effort, especially when it’s mental. If we go back to what is learned in training, the concept is basically that you rest after you collapse, not before. In mental wellness, it works the other way. You have to learn to rest before you collapse or explode.

A major part of the work in mental health and wellness is around changing perspective, adopting healthy beliefs, and reframing negative thought patterns into positive and productive ones. This space governs every part of your life. Doing the work regardless of how you feel might mean going through tough emotions in order to find a healing place or it might mean that regardless of which emotion you feel, they all deserve attention and respect.

Do you want to explore this more? Contact me about mental health coaching.