Gather 'round, dear readers, and let me tell you one of the great secrets of our sport (and, really I suppose, all sports). It took me a long time to learn this skill in general, but I figured it out long before I started throwing axes, fortunately.
You see, in every sport that pits a person against another person, you're gonna have some feelings about losing. Some fee-fees. Some emotions. And much like any band to come out of the culture specifically named after emotions, you can't carry those emotions with you after the game/match/fight is over.
PASSION IS GREAT. LINGERING FRUSTRATION IS NOT.
It's so easy to fall into the trap of carrying the weight of a lost match (or even just one where you didn't throw the way you wanted) into the next match. Or to let that frustration carry over into your whole night/the next day. And I get it. Dwelling on negative feelings is natural, I think. But it's something that can and will affect how you throw your next match - it can even affect how well you practice.
I don't think I'm laying anything out here that people don't already know. If you're having those big feelings because you lost a match, you're not gonna be as focused as you could be during your next match. Like, duh. But it takes a conscious effort to drop your frustration quickly enough to be in a clear headspace for your next match.
ENTER THE SECRET WEAPON: PERSPECTIVE
Our sport is great. It takes very little skill to get into, and a whole lotta skill to become great. People have a chance to hone their abilities to a point of near-perfection.
But it's also a game.
I am not blind to the fact that many of us wrap a whole lot of our identity into axe throwing. We get tattoos, we are defined by the culture and friendships we form in our leagues and at tourneys. Like, I get it, dear reader. I know.
But, like, none of it is important. Nobody dies when we miss a clutch. Planets don't collide into each other if we miss an 81 by a single bullseye. Doing your best is important, but not to the world, baby. Not to the world.
I feel as though I've reached a good place with how I react to not throwing well. Unlike all you all stars, I don't throw very well pretty often. I'm not a superstar when it comes to this sport. No, I'm much more like a gaseous nebula.
And because of that, I often have to balance out my feelings after a match. And I do that by, you know, not caring that much about the loss. Here's how I break it down: am I in this sport for fame and money, or am I in it for fun and comradery?
If the answer is the latter (fun times, good friends), then I can't really lose unless I somehow alienate all my throwing fraaans and decide axe throwing isn't fun. So whenever I lose a match I wasn't expecting to lose, or I miss an 81, or I just generally do some looney tunes shit I wasn't trying for, I try to put perspective into place: am I still throwing for fun?
Recentering my reasons and perspective that way helps me get over all the goofy nonsense that I pull on the regular, including a recent marathon league where I didn't get a single 81 after almost everyone else did, and managed to finish at the bottom of the pack. Because despite all of that, I did have a lot of fun, and that's the point, innit?
So here's my super-secret, c-c-c-combo breaking tip for all you folks who find yourself carrying your losses and frustrations across an entire tourney (or an entire league, even?!) - give yourself some perspective, and remind yourself of why you're there. It's (hopefully) to have fun. So make sure you're doing that.
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