Dear reader, you may ask yourself: "self? Yes, hello. Quick question: did Badger wake up with the phrase 'Hell on Feels' in his brain and write an entire article around it?"
And the answer to that question would be yes. Yes I did.
But who knows why the subconscious mind plants these little things into our brain cases? Why not build a post solely on three words? I've done more with less, as I'm sure you've noticed.
EMOTIONS AND THROWING: NOT BEST BUDS
Axe throwing - at least axe throwing in the measured, sporting sense, is a very precise, fine-motor-skill activity. It requires consistency. It demands accuracy. And, lest we gloss over it: axe throwing requires a pretty set level of managed emotion, too.
Here's what I mean: typically (not always), a thrower who finds themselves too angry, or too self-critical, or too anything, will not throw to their best ability. For some folks, it comes down to not performing how they expect (which puts them into that spiral of not throwing well, getting frustrated because they aren't throwing well, and then throwing worse). For others, it's a matter of "yips" or "nerves" or whatever else you wanna call it - it's all emotional responses that throw off yer game.
THE MIDDLE PATH OF AXE THROWING
There is a sweet spot that's probably different for everyone, but for me it's an emotional state where I'm interested but not serious about my throwing. If I get to "whatever" about throwing, I don't throw well. If I get too "this is the most important thing ever" about it, I also throw like junk.
So I aim for a sort of middle path (thanks, Buddhism!), where I want to throw as well as I can, but I also just want to take it one throw at a time. If I messed up my last throw it doesn't matter, because I'm working on the throw I'm throwing right now. And if I mess up this throw, it doesn't matter, because I have another throw coming up to focus on.
CONTROL EMOTION BY NOT CONTROLLING
I get the want to be frustrated or angry with mistakes while throwing. Hell, I'd go as far as to say I've often felt the pull of despair when doing poorly. But none of those emotions serve you very well - especially in an activity, let's be honest, which has no lasting impact on the world at all. Or at least no lasting impact based off of how many points you score in any particular game.
Scientists would call this "perspective," and it's helped me get out of so many ruts when it comes to this goofy activity.
Then again, trying to control your own emotions can often backfire. The human brain is a real piece of work, and sometimes your dumb brain meat will tell you "hey, you can't even do well trying to not feel bad about throwing bad - YOU MUST BE BAD AT EVERYTHING!"
And maybe you are bad at everything. I don't know. I don't know your life. But I reckon that's not true.
So it comes down to, like so many things, practice. Practice makes it possible to control your own mindset/emotions without really focusing on controlling your emotions. Kind of like how you breathe without thinking about it. But now you've read that sentence and are probably thinking about breathing now. Sorry.
WHEN YOU PRACTICE THROWING, PRACTICE YOUR FEE-FEES, TOO.
Something nobody told me but became really obvious when I got my footing in this sport is the art of a complete practice session. Learning to hit a bullseye and a clutch is great, and ab-so-lute-ly important, but so is managing your own mental state.
So when I practice now, I certainly work on getting clean bulls and as many premmy clutchies as I can manage, but I also work on paying attention to my feelings: am I being excited by my successes and passive about my misses? Am I treating each throw as its own event rather than measuring myself on the overall outcomes? Do I immediately forgive errors or am I dwelling on every miss-throw?
For a long time (and sometimes still) I fell into an issue where I practiced and nailed every single throw exactly how I wanted, only for a real match to be full of threes and missed clutches. I couldn't figure out why I could do so well in practice (even practice matches) to fall apart during a league match or tourney.
Then it struck me: during practice, I was throwing with a very different emotional mindset. I didn't feel the pressure of performance. I wasn't taking things so seriously, nor did I feel absolutely crushed if I missed a bull or clutch.
By carrying that same mindset into my league matches and tourneys, I was able to shake the yoke of my own, reactionary emotions. Now, does this mean I am a stellar thrower who never gets frustrated and ends up on podiums? Hell no. I'm not nearly as good as all that - but I do throw a lot better when my brain isn't hung up on mistakes. And, perhaps more importantly, I have much more fun no matter the outcome.
So my suggestion to you, dear reader, is to find that comfortable emotional state for yourself, and figure out how to practice it in a way that lets you carry it from practice to league to tourney. You'll likely throw a bit better, have a bit more fun, and will find you don't throw away an entire match because your too angry/too frustrated/too anything.
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