Using Affirmations for Athlete Mental Health

Affirmations for athlete mental health are actually extremely useful in reprogramming the negative thought habits that plague many players. Whether in their sport or elsewhere, an athlete’s mental health can affect their life as a whole. One of the major mental components in sports is overcoming mental blocks, but that also applies to everyday living as well.

I’m so frustrated.

Why do the same things keep happening over and over again?

Why can’t I get this right no matter how hard I try?

A mental block might be an obvious negative statement or feeling, or it might present itself as a trigger (i.e., when this happens, this is how I feel.) What’s tricky about these is that while these negative thought patterns will make you feel bad, they can also be something that you’ve accepted as a truth about your life and so you just deal with it no matter how frustrated you are by it. These blocks may feel so much a part of your life that you don’t even recognize they are there!

Because this keeps repeating itself in my life, this must just be the way my life is or something that I deserve karmically.

How can affirmations for athlete mental health help?

When it comes to mental and emotional change, sometimes people give up quickly because whatever they are doing is hard and the results aren’t happening fast enough. The problem with this way of thinking is that it’s really just an excuse because when you think about it, you know that it’s not going to be easy to change a habit quickly. It’s like if you have to tweak something in your game. If you’ve always made a movement one way, it takes a real concentrated effort over time with plenty of repetition to make that change. It’s the same thing with your thoughts.

3 ways to use affirmations for athlete mental health

Lots of people think that if they figure out why they feel a certain way about certain things or if they identify their triggers, that their work here is done. Understanding without change is only half useful.

Why? Because you may understand why you get mad, feel anxiety, or whatever your situation might be, but that alone won’t keep you from feeling those things over and over again every time a specific situation presents itself. You have to understand yourself, but then you have to do the work to change your perspective. Otherwise, you’ll just say to yourself something like, yeah I’m mad and I’m freaking out and I know why, but nothing is changing so let me just deal with this the way I always deal with it.

This is where affirmations can be helpful. The secret about affirmations is that if you use them consistently, often, and for a lengthy period of time, you are taking a giant step in doing the work to actually change the way you handle situations when they happen. It’s empowering when you choose your perspective instead of letting the situation choose for you.

1. Create your statements.

This part takes some time, thought, and tweaking. I have found over the years that general statements like, “I expect good things to happen” are helpful, but when you create a statement specific to your belief that hits right at the issue, it’s much more impactful.

Here’s an example. Let’s say that you are someone who is afraid of failing and you’ve done the work with an athlete mental health coach, therapist, or other professional to pinpoint why you have that fear. Now, you can create a series of affirmations to hit at the core of what you want to change. Instead of affirming, “I’m not afraid of failing,” you might affirm something more specific such as, “If I want to reach my goals, I have to be willing to risk failing. Failure doesn’t change who I am, but it teaches me what to do instead.”

Make them real to you. Use your own language. Really feel the words.

Also, it doesn’t matter how many affirmations you create as long as the one(s) that you have written are impactful to you. You can always add more to your list as you go if you want.

2. Use your affirmations multiple times a day.

One of my favorite affirmation hacks is to write them down and post them next to my bed. I repeat them right before I fall asleep so that they are working their way into my brain as the last conscious thing I focus on. I also read them in the morning after I say my morning prayers as a way to start my day.

But that’s not all…

There will be times during the day when the same issue comes up again leaving you to your typical reaction. When you recognize this, go back to your affirmations (I have a copy in the Notes app on my phone), and read them out loud. This is another reason why you want them to be specific. If your affirmations hit at the emotion at the heart of your issue and your motivation, you’re much more likely to connect with them in moments when you are experiencing the effects of your negative thought habits.

3. Be consistent and very patient.

The thing about thought habits is that they generate automated reactions from you before you even know it. So, while you can recognize what’s going on and then repeat your affirmations, to truly transform your thought habits, you have to be consistent and patient. It takes time for your brain and emotional memory to catch up with your new way of thinking. Understand that you will probably still feel those uncomfortable feelings for awhile. Just like how I mentioned earlier about how it takes time to tweak a physical change, again, it’s the same thing for your mindset.

This might sound a little kooky here, but your brain thinks what you tell it to think. If you can teach yourself to memorize changed plays in a playbook, then you can teach yourself to think differently. It just takes more time because there is an emotional connection that can make things feel more difficult.

You might even read your affirmations and still feel uncomfortable. It’s okay. Give it time to sink in.

Heck, you might even want to add, “I can change this” and “I am working on changing this” to your affirmations as a reminder of what you’re doing in the first place.

Take your time and go easy on yourself. If you’re willing to put in the work consistently, the change will happen.

I’ve done this on several occasions in my own life. It’s annoying, but exceptionally liberating all at the same time.

Want more help with your affirmations? Contact me to learn more about coaching and request a free session.