For a novel virus – it certainly feels like the novelty has worn off. I’d love to be saying, “way to go!”, that after 50+ days we’re almost done… but, as our collective actions continue to save tens of thousands of Canadian lives, we just don’t know when or how our stay-at-home advisories will be lifted.
It may feel that your 2020 plans are on hold or even squashed entirely – they aren’t; but you will need to adapt them to fit 2021. I can imagine that all of this waiting-to-start is not easy; on your body or your brain, you have never trained to wait. (I have often said that waiting to race was way more stressful than actually racing.)
Recently, Canadian Space Astronaut, Commander Chris Hadfield spoke to a group of carded athletes about managing uncertainty. One of the first things he suggested was that we need to accept the new place that we are in, and more to the point, the new place YOU are in. Once you are over the shock that the plan that you had has changed; be it a mental plan, physical plan, or action plan – you need to accept that things have changed, that you are in a new place AND that you need to move forward.
But how do you do that when your long-term planning is stalled?
One recommendation from Chris was to recognize that we are responsible for “growing the inertia of our own contentment”. That is to say… it’s up to you to make yourself happy. As we adjust our plans to fit the new place that we are in, he recommended that we create new objectives. These new objectives don’t all need to be connected to your BIG plans, but can give you a few ‘wins’ in the short and mid-term.
Guitar, yoga, knitting, reading, school work, family, zooming, languages, core strength, sketching, writing, coding, cooking, inverted dressing, floor-is-lava-ing….Pursue your passions and/or curiosities. While it’s challenging to work on large motor skills right now, use the time you have to develop small ones.
In the “before times” your daily routine was focused on preparing for very specific goals in the future. Then, your “todays” were a tool to get you to tomorrow. In the “now times” you need only focus on today.
Long-term, back to sport planning will come – talk to your coaches and team leaders for direction, but for now, accept that we remain in a complex environment. Municipal, provincial, national and international decisions will be different depending on situations and strategies.
Right now – Let TODAY be the goal. Continue to find ways make today feel like a good day.
Cheers to you – We are all Team Canada.
Marnie
Love this. Thanks Marnie. I love the goal of making today feel like a good day. Off to walk the dog. xo
As much as Kim and I grumbled and felt the heavy disappointment of cancelling our next leg of the Camino along Portugal’s coastal route at the end of May, there is some consolation. Kim’s shoulder wouldn’t even permit the weight of a pack at this time and my right Achilles has been bitchier than ever. Maybe it wasn’t our time to walk another 300km. We would have, very stubbornly, that’s for sure, and probably ruined ourselves for a long while. Maybe Kim’s shoulder and my Achilles were a weird physical-psychological response to the fact that we truly couldn’t go. So, our bodies created pseudo (but very real) symptoms to reassure us that it wasn’t the best time? That we needed this suspension of time to recalibrate? That’s my add-on to your novel philosophy! Thanks for this, Marnie. (I also like Hadfield’s concept of creating mini-missions for each day. I have a sketchbook from the Brooklyn Art Project and have completed my doodle of the day, so, it’s recess now!)