Fear: is a vital response to physical and emotional danger

BUT we often fear situations that are in no way a life or death situation,which makes our fears irrational. These irrational fears cause us to not step out of our comfort zone, these fears do not allow us to take a CHANCE. 

Traumas or bad experiences trigger fear- yet "EXPOSING OURSELVES TO OUR PERSONAL DEMONS IS THE BEST WAY TO MOVE PAST THEM"

 

 

 As an athlete my greatest fear is to fail. I have spent 17 years in the sport of judo, and in the past two years I have learned that it is okay to fail, it is not okay to give up. I have spent a lot of time traveling and training for a competition and I have come back empty handed. I did not make the 2012 Olympic Team even though that was my plan. I failed to make many of my personal and athletic goals but I still kept trying to push forward.

As an athlete my greatest fear is failure. I sometimes  feel like I put myself into a panic because I think of all the time, money, effort, blood, sweat, tears, etc that I have put into this sport and if I come out  unsuccessful I feel like I will not be able to live with myself. On top of that, I would feel like I let everyone around me down, my coach, friends and family. My whole life I felt like I had to prove something, just like at my first day of judo- I had to prove to my dad that I was tough enough to do this. 

 

One of my biggest weaknesses as a athlete is my Mind. I over think everything, and I let the mental part of the game get into my head. I want to live up to not only other peoples' expectations but my very own expectations. I know I am able to do anything that I set my mind to, I have already proven that and continue to do so. 

 

As the New Year creeps up, I have started setting my new 2014 goals, Sport and Life goals. I know I will not make every single goal. But I do know that I will work as hard as possible to attain it and will not be defeated by any of my failures, but will continue to ride the journey. Perseverance is what keeps you going and the fear of failing helps me to work even harder.