Episode 23 of The Rider’s Mind Podcast: There’s Nothing Wrong With You
Have you ever sat ready to compete and wondered, What is wrong with me? Why am I so nervous? I’m here to tell you that you’re not alone. There’s nothing wrong with you. In this episode, I’ll share my suggestions for handling those competition nerves.
As a mindset coach, I’m really big on detecting and clearing limiting beliefs. One limiting belief that a lot of people have is there is something wrong with me. When we are different from others, we sometimes think there is something wrong with us. When it comes to nervousness and anxiety connected to performance, we often think there is something wrong when we feel this way. It can be easy to judge ourselves.
We are not supposed to be perfect. We are imperfect for a reason: it makes us unique. We are designed to experience challenges and overcome them.
A big change for me was when my aunt shared with me that she’d heard about a football player being so nervous that he threw up before every game. When I heard about someone else experiencing this, I realized I was not weird. I recognized I wasn’t alone. I wasn’t the only one dealing with nervousness. I share my story because I want others to know they aren’t alone.
When the nerves come over you, it’s easy to look around and think that everyone else looks cool as a cucumber. In reality, you probably look pretty calm too. It’s likely that other people are struggling through the same nervous jitters as you are.
You can actually use the energy from nervousness for something good. Look at the energy in a non-judgemental way. Acknowledge your nervousness, but don’t give it power by making that nervousness a bad thing. Take a deep breath. Redirect your energy instead of wondering what’s wrong with you. Bring your attention back to the task of riding right for your horse. Most importantly, remember you’re not alone and there’s nothing wrong with you.
Recognize that the energy from nervousness can stem from excitement. You love what you do and you’re excited about it, which is great! You just need to channel the energy that you’re feeling into something productive. The first step in this shift is taking a deep breath and grounding yourself.
You are not alone in experiencing nervousness. There are others around you who also struggle with feeling nervous. It is something you can work on.
If you want to learn more about my mindset training, check out my free 3-part mini course. This course will help you develop your mindset to move on to the next level in competition. Click here for the Next Level Mindset course.
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