Imagine going on a road trip and questioning whether you should be on it every time you encountered a stop sign, red light or a decrease in the speed limit. When we go on a road trip we make a long-term commitment to the final destination and as such we don’t think twice about all of the stops, starts, twists, turns and bumps along the way. We consider them a necessary part of the road trip. We have road trip resilience.
Resilience is easier if you are committed long-term and you have an unwavering belief that you belong on your chosen path. If you lack a long-term commitment you will look for a way out when things get tough. If you are unsure about your “right” to pursue your chosen path and you treat every practice or competition as an ultimatum on that choice the self-induced pressure can be overwhelming. Your ego loves this state because it loves drama. And when you pursue something in this way you get to experience drama every single day. You get to treat every instance as a small test that will determine the rest of your life. It’s just so dramatic and your ego loves it. Your ego is ridiculous.
A long-term commitment combined with an unwavering belief that you belong on the path you are on is the secret to daily resilience. Daily resilience strung together over and over and over again is the secret to long-term resilience. And long-term resilience is one of the surest ways to get what you want.
