We’ve all been there & had those days. One thing happens & adjusts the tone of the day to a slightly negative one then something else goes wrong & before you know it the days turned into dominoes. As we all know living a horsey lifestyle this can & does most definitely happen much of the time, pretty much everyday if we’re honest!
But what counts is how you deal with these situations & days. I work with many riders who compete at various different levels in different disciplines. Some of my riders do the horses as their full-time job whereas others have incredibly successful careers & do the horses as a hobby as such but most definitely to be competitive.
The mind is your most powerful tool & it’s responsible for how you handle every situation you find yourself in. Within your health & fitness journey mindset is a huge component of your success & I remind my clients of this everyday. Whether they are competing for a living or handling an important project at work, mindset & mentality can be the difference between success or not quite getting the result you were hoping for & it is key to educate yourself on what a big role mindset plays.
Many people find that for years they’ve had this F- it attitude. When things don’t quite go according to plan or something disrupts the balance of the day they find themselves in this self-sabotage circle.
One bad thing, such as an issue with the horse happens, you find yourself frustrated & annoyed, you go inside & turn to the biscuit tin, start eating your frustrations & before you know it you’ve used food as your emotional blanket as such. Then you get annoyed at yourself for going on this sabotage but think sod it half the packs gone now I may as well eat the rest.
Then you open a bottle of wine that night, put on a film, sit in your own feelings & end up feeling pretty sorry for yourself. Now we’ve all been there & done it, let’s not pretend we haven’t but the important thing to acknowledge is that long term this is not a healthy cycle to be in.
Within any area of your life whether that be towards your nutrition approach, riding, training, relationships whatever it is. If you allow yourself to live by this F-it approach & cycle long term you are going to find yourself stuck in a very negative place & it is going to impact every choice you make.
This isn’t going to change over time by magic & you have to remember you have most probably been following this cycle for a very long time & it has become habit for you. Habits take time to change but if you focus on implementing positive steps & changes each day over time these old, negative, self-destructive habits will start to dissolve & you build new habits in time. But it will take time & consistency is the key here. Remember again it is years of unconscious habits you are trying to change so be patient & consistent.
This then becomes how you handle every situation but it most certainly takes time, just the same as changing long term nutrition habits that you’ve held all your life. Rather than being frustrated with a bad situation & thinking F- it, letting it consume you, try to move towards a more positive focus.
Accept the situation. Bad things happen & this is life. Acknowledge it but don’t over analyse it.
Yes this takes time, I may be giving you & my clients this advice but it is most certainly something I am not great at & have to work everyday to remember & put in place. If something bad happens then take yourself off, get outside & do something physical that makes you feel good. Whether that’s to go for a walk with the dogs, or go out for a hack or go & take a bath do something that takes you away from your own thoughts, makes you focus on something else & feel positive. Helping to remind you of the good things in your life & that accepting the negative times is part of life.
Learn to pay attention to your thoughts & mindset, be present & in time I promise you you will build yourself a far more positive & resilient mindset & attitude towards everything you approach in life. Mindset is a huge part of fitness & believing you can do things & accepting that yes things go wrong but moving on & up is what counts. If your mindset is strong you can handle anything-trust me.
If your mindset & changes habits is something that you struggle with then click the link HERE to book a 10-minute call & I will help you to put a strategy in place to start to work on a more positive mindset.