We live in a very busy world and many of us have more than one role in life and involvement in more that one activity or sport. Every young person has teachers setting expectations at home, coaches setting expectations in sport, parents setting expectations at home as well as each individual setting their own expectations.
Why do we need to manage our expectations?
The problem of expectation occurs when we expect something to happen without good reasons for that expectation. If I believe that my expectations alone will bring me what I want, I am using magical thinking and setting myself up for disappointment. Expecting life to always turn out the way you want is guaranteed to lead to disappointment.
Change your thinking...
We all have those moments where we expect ourselves to be at our best every day with everything that we do. We hope that we can just do every task effortlessly, train at our best everyday and be sociable with our friends and family all the time.
But how consistent are we at being able to do all of these things. Yes we may hit occasional peak flow states where everything clicks. But forcing yourself to be on top of our game day in day out is unrealistic and a by product of the hustle culture that we have all become a part of.
The truth is our physical, mental, and emotional capacities fluctuate daily based on factors like rest, stress, nutrition, and more. Having self compassion for these natural ups and downs allows us to better care for ourselves overall. Your “best” output will vary day to day, and that’s perfectly fine.
Check in with your Changing Needs
Your mind and body give you signals about what they need day to day. Are you feeling sluggish as you haven't very well? Have you had a stressful weekend at a competition? Have you spent a lot of time around people and need a bit of alone time?
Check in and then adapt.
Scale back your expectations around what you can handle today.
Maybe training needs to be swapped for a good nights sleep. Maybe an intense workout needs to swap for a walk in nature. Or some time with friends / family takes priority over homework.
Use our battery template below to check in with how you are feeling, we have added 4 batteries but feel free to create your own.
This content has been developed as part of our #itsmyjourney project with Valleys Gymnastics Academy
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