We’re sorry you’re here, but we’re glad you’re with us!
It’s the week before the Boston Marathon, and I—Cindy Kuzma—won’t be running the race, for the first time in six years. I’m disappointed and know I’ll feel left out on Marathon Monday. But I’m also excited to watch an amazing elite field and cheer on my friends who are racing.
Sitting with all those conflicting emotions has proven a bit challenging. So I’m glad that this week on The Injured Athletes Club, my co-host and mental skills coach Carrie Jackson Cheadle talks me through a mental exercise that’s all about making peace with feelings that seem opposite or incongruous at first.
We started by calling it Good News, Bad News—but flipped it to Bad News, Good News midway through, as we realized we naturally think of the challenges first (and that it’s more helpful to end on a high note).
On this episode, we discuss:
- Some of the positive emotions that can accompany injury—including looking forward to improving other parts of your performance or spending time with friends and family
- Why it can be hard to accept those upsides or square them with your disappointment or other negative emotions; why we fight for one side to “win”
- How thinking back to high-school or college graduation, with its blend of melancholy and anticipation, can help us remember it’s possible to honestly feel a whole range of things at one time
- Why getting stuck either in the positive or negative side—or in either defying or conforming to others’ expectations of how you “should” be feeling—can be detrimental
- The way staying open to the lows is necessary to experience the highs; after all, they’re both an essential part of the human experience
- Situations in which Carrie’s seen her athletes use Bad News, Good News, including overcoming new pain, setbacks, and other obstacles
- How, practically speaking, to make it work (including some fun variations, such as writing your own clickbait headlines)
- The way this quick, simple exercise can build over time into greater resilience to handle more serious situations
- The definition of psychological flexibility, and its potential link to levels of anxiety or depression
- Other tools you can use to cultivate psychological flexibility, including redefining obstacles as opportunities and staying open to possibility
Resources we mention:
-Our website, www.injuredathletesclub.com
-The Injured Athletes Club Facebook group
Thanks for listening, and please reach out anytime at hello@injuredathletesclub.com with questions, guest suggestions, or other feedback.
DISCLAIMER: This content is for educational & informational use only and & does not constitute medical advice. Do not disregard, avoid or delay obtaining medical or health related advice from your health-care professional because of something you may have heard in an episode of this podcast. You should not rely on this information as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Please consult with a qualified medical professional for proper evaluation & treatment. Guests who speak on this podcast express their own opinions, experiences, and conclusions, and The Injured Athletes Club podcast hosts nor any company providing financial support endorses or opposes any particular treatment option discussed in the episodes of this podcast and are not responsible for any actions or inactions of listeners based on the information presented. The use of any information provided is solely at your own risk.