I’ve coached several emotional athletes. Those emotions range from anger when people aren’t doing their jobs correctly, to sadness and tears when they aren’t performing to the best of their ability, to fear when facing tough opponents.
When those emotions aren’t managed or addressed appropriately, they can grow into becoming bigger mental health issues.
Kobe Bryant was a hard-working, hard-driving leader. In an interview with students at USC, he was asked about more NBA players coming forward and sharing their struggles with mental health, and why it’s important for more elite athletes to join the conversation about mental health.
Kobe said, “I think it’s important for athletes to own what they’re going through. It’s awareness. A lot of times, we try to tell young athletes that having those thoughts and feelings are weakness which causes them to feel some time of way about themselves and carry that around with them.”
He says instead, we should teach them to be aware of what is going on inside, to know it’s neither good nor bad, so you can choose to walk hand in hand with it or fight it.
One key to managing mental health issues is to own it, not run from it. Be aware of what is happening inside because then you can CHOOSE how you want to fight it.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
1 - What is your biggest takeaway from the video?
2 - How do you manage your emotions? Do you try to ignore them or own them?
3 - What emotions do you feel the strongest, and when?
4 - Next time they come up, how can you be aware of what you are feeling without allowing them to overwhelm you?
I do not own the rights to this video, and I am using it for educational purposes only. You can find the full video here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5-vgyEbtPU)
I have been blogging my way through Daniel Goleman’s book, Emotional Intelligence. You can read more about it here: Emotional Intelligence Blog
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