Riding with Fear, Part 2: Psychological Fear

to avoid disaster at all costs. The alarmist tends to show up when you are at your most vulnerable or in the areas of your life where you feel most insecure. So if you are showing in a new division and feeling doubtfulhere it comes. If you are worried about all those people in the stands and what theyre thinking of you know its there.
Internal alarmists are usually overreacting troublemakers. Youre trying to focus on your job and they keep taking you further away from it. How will you respond to it? Try reassuring and soothing this part of yourself instead of trying to ignore it. Part of this reassurance will come from the plan you develop ahead of time to cope with your fears which just happens to be coming up next in this article.
Get Perspective and Support
Because high stress situations have a way of distorting your thinking its important to look for and get to the truth of the matter. Look around you are there people you trust to give you the straight goods? They might be a coach parent or stablemate. These people can act as alarm consultants to your panic. They can help you gauge the real size of a thread and figure out how you can approach it. They can talk you down until you can think clearly and formulate your approach
To gain perspective its also important for Jodi and others like her to remember that one competition is just that one. It sits in a string of experiences you will have throughout your riding career. So be clear many opportunities not just one.
And do not and this is important gamble your sense of self on how well you perform. Those stakes are too high and you will most certainly lose. Youll be who you are at the end of the day whether you are wearing a ribbon or not. There are many more aspects of you that are cool interesting and competent besides just your riding. Think of wanting to compete instead of needing to compete. Changing your perspective in this way can be a big pressure reliever.
Abandon Perfection
One of the greatest thieves of sport self esteem is the habit of clinging stubbornly to the idea of perfection. Some riders believe that if they are not reaching for perfection their goals are not high enough. The truth is perfection is not a high goal