Worry about the stuff you can change
As many of you already know I coach a swim team here in Rhode Island. It’s such a fulfilling experience for me and it’s something I am completely comfortable with doing the rest of my life. There are so many dynamics to take into consideration when working with a team. Sure, you’ll have your stars and the swimmers who no matter how hard they try just can’t get past the wall they’re up against. The role of a coach is to keep all of the groups on the team satisfied without trying to come off as having favourites. Obviously every coach is going to have his favourite swimmer(s), it comes with the territory and we have to deal with it.
I’d like to think that I am fair across the board with my swimmers. I push the ones that need it and I make sure the ones that have a great work ethic already stay excited and motivated. However, I’ve noticed lately that I’ve had a couple swimmers jump in the water and swim angry. They’re upset for some reason or another, stressed over something, etc. The last thing I want them to do is swim angry, stressed, upset or what ever other negative emotion is flowing through them. This breeds bad habits and it’s something we definitely don’t want or need. It can also snowball into something worse. Such as a swimmer taking their goggles off, getting out of the water and calling it a day. I think there is a certain level of a personal relationship a coach should have with his/her swimmers. A coach should be there for their swimmers for whatever they need. Outside advice, a shoulder to lean on, someone to vent to, etc. The majority of the time after a swimmer who is stressed or angry talks with me about what’s going on they get back in the water and kick some ass. They don’t even need to give me the details, we can just talk about whatever. My response is always the same:
“Worry about the stuff you can change and stop worrying about the stuff you can’t.”
It does you nor anyone around you any good if you’re stressing about something out of your control. Now someone might say to me “that might work for you”. Sure it works for me. I don’t ever worry about the stuff out of my control. Why? Because I can’t do a damn thing about it. I worry about the stuff I can change and I make sure I make that change so it doesn’t happen again.
You can take this example into real life, your job, anywhere. We’d be much better off as humans if we let things roll off of us. Many of the stressful events in our lives are uncontrollable. Everyone deals in their own way and many deal in ways that are borderline abusive to themselves. This is upsetting and something I hate to see happen.
If you take one thing from this post it’s the quote above. Start making a conscience effort to change the things you can and let the things you can’t roll off your shoulders. You can’t do anything about it so why even try or stress yourself out trying to.
All the best.
