Transcript

KALLY FAYHEE

I frequently felt overwhelmed with all of the thoughts racing through my head, and I didn't know how to sort through them. As a starting point, my counsellor asked me to simply pay attention to my thoughts.

I have to be honest. At first, it seemed a bit silly. But when I truly looked at all of the thoughts racing through my head, I realised most were negative, but not based on fact. These self-defeating thoughts were triggered by external pressures, usually occurring after a practice, during a test, or before a race.

Once I had identified when these thoughts occurred, I was able to start anticipating and then managing them. One thing that was helpful was to slow down and think about what I would say to a friend in each situation. If my friend were having these thoughts, what would I say to her? How would I view her? Would I be as hard on her as I was on myself?

Identifying and reframing negative thoughts by putting myself in a friend's shoes gave me permission to not be so hard on myself. It allowed me to step out of the current of self-defeating thoughts. The longer you try, the easier it becomes to give yourself the permission to have positive, encouraging thoughts.