New Visualization Approach To Life

Happy Wednesday!

About two weeks ago I had a conversation with Chandler’s mom about my struggle with riding. Ever since I fell off, I struggled to feel confident about getting the horse to canter again. I couldn’t stop thinking that I was going to fall off again which was such a terrible mindset. When all you can think about is the negative outcome, that’s exactly what’s going to happen.

Chandler’s mom told me that instead of envisioning the fall, think about doing it, and doing it well. This thought seems so simple and obvious but it had never occurred to me that this was all I needed to do. When something traumatic happens to us, our body instantly recognizes that event as something that shouldn’t happen again. However, this situation, similar to many others in life such as falling off a bike and getting back on, is one where you have to tell your body “it’s okay, I know it was scary, but you love it so try again.”

That’s exactly what I had to do. I had to remove that fear from my head and instead, fill it with visuals of pro riders doing exactly what I was doing with all the confidence in the world. I spent hours and days watching riding competitions, jump off’s, Grand Prix events, riders cantering around a ring, and more. Once I watched the numerous amount of people doing exactly what I was doing, I thought how could I be afraid? Yeah you probably will fall off again at some point. The joke at the barn is that the more you fall off the better rider you are. While of course I want to prevent myself from falling off, I’m no longer afraid to canter around the ring. Now, I can do it and am learning more about jumping which is something I really want to do.

Life can be filled with fear. But if you let the fear cloud your head, similar to a bunch of sand being thrown in your face like my photo above, you’ll never get past anything or do all of the things you love. I now apply what Chandler’s mom said to everything. When I do box jumps in my workout, I visualize myself jumping and being on top with ease. When I’m struggling with something at work, I visualize myself being a pro at it in the future.

So, I challenge you to take on this visualization approach to life. No matter what you’re struggling with, visualize yourself taking control over it and just crushing it! Think of the positive, and only the positive outcome of what you want. If you have this mindset, I promise you won’t fall off the horse. ?