Sport Psychology on the Screen: Conquering Fear in the Dark knight rises

The issue of fear

When I look back at my time as a swimmer, I will often think about the different forms of adversity that I faced. This often leads me to think about the injuries that I faced, as they were present in almost my entire career as a swimmer. Something that gets overshadowed, but was almost, if not equally, as impactful on me was the fear that I faced. Fear was something that I felt quite often and it was always related to my outcomes, most notably if I did not improve my time, or if I would swim slower than some of my teammates. While this fear was not enough to make me stop swimming, there were definitely some times that I was so afraid of looking bad, that I was hoping to find ways to avoid having to compete so that I did not have to deal with the fear.

During my time as a mental performance coach, it does not surprise me to find that many of the individuals that I work with also struggle with performing with fear. Because of this, I wanted to take the time to discuss fear with you all and share how we can learn to conquer it, instead of fear conquering us. As I thought of what illustration I could use for fear, I figured there was no better person to look to than a person who is purposefully defined and associated with fear: Batman.

The pit in the Dark Knight rises

Before we look at the video, I will add some context. Bane has defeated Batman by breaking his back and leaving him in a pit that also serves as a prison, despite there being no guards. In fact, all of the prisoners have the opportunity to leave whenever they want. The issue, however, is that they have to climb out of the pit. Many prisoners, including Batman, attempt to climb out using a rope to save them if they fall. One after another, each person is unable to climb out of the pit. As we watch the video, we will see how Batman hopes to overcome this obstacle.

The fear reaction

What I find so useful from this video is the accurate illustration of fear. Initially, Bruce’s plan to escape the pit was only to train physically and hope it was enough to get him out, at the same time refusing to admit he is afraid. Despite all of his training, he still used the rope to protect himself from failure, and every time he makes the climb, he falls back down. After many attempts, one of the prisoners confronts Bruce on his avoidance of fear and that the only way to escape is to confront his fear by climbing out without the rope. Once he finally does this, he is able to reconnect with who he truly is (Batman), and escape the pit.

Now I do not believe any of you are currently facing a situation where you need to climb out of a pit with the fear of falling to your death. But I would imagine there is a fair chance that fear will come up in your life, which can lead to many challenges, particularly in sport and performance. So if we will experience fear, how do we deal with it? To answer this, we must first look at a common reaction to fear that creates issues. Just as Bruce uses the rope to protect himself, we often act in ways to protect ourselves as well. This can be seen in one of the most common fears that most of us experience: the fear of failure. When we perform with the fear of failure, we change the way we perform. Some people become perfectionists and focus on all of the little details, instead of relying on your instincts. Some people try to avoid difficult challenges or even performing all together to avoid having to deal with failure at all. Either way, these reactions put limitations on us and lead to more failures, allowing the fear to remain.

Confronting Fear

So if our fear cannot be avoided, the only way to deal with it is to confront it. Continuing with the fear of failure example, instead of avoiding failure, accept that failure will happen and challenge yourself to perform without placing any limitations on yourself. By doing this, two results can occur:

1) You achieve your goal and learn what you are capable of

2) You don’t reach your goal, but you learn what you are capable of and where you can improve

As you can see, whether or not you achieve your goal, the outcome does not have any impact on who you are as a person. The way you respond to the outcome, however, will greatly define who you are. So consider this, the only difference in these outcomes is it is easier to find ways to improve when you don’t achieve your goals. And when you really think about it, one of the most exciting parts of being a performer is pushing yourself to be better each and every day. So if failing to achieve your goal leads you to finding out how to improve, wouldn’t we want to put ourselves in positions where we may fail? Yes, the ultimate goal is to win, but if failing can lead to learning, then maybe it really isn’t something to be afraid of. So rather than avoiding our fears, use your fears to help you grow as a performer and a person.

So will you allow your fear to keep limiting you or will you confront it and find out who you really are? Only you can make that decision!

Thank you for reading! If fear is something that you struggle with in your performance, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I would love nothing more than working with you and helping you find a way to confront your fear!

Sport Psychology on the Screen: Athletic Identity in The Lion King

Who are you?

    Whenever I was asked this question, the first thing I would say was, "I am a swimmer." Before anything else, I identified as an athlete because it was all that I put my time and effort into. I was proud to say that I was a swimmer because I was proud of all of the accomplishments that I had achieved.

    I'm sure that many of you reading this can relate. Sports and performance can become such a huge part of our lives and we often cling onto them so much that we feel that is 100% who we are. While this may not be an issue when an individual performs well, what happens when things don't go well? This became a struggle for me when I found myself in a slump where I could not improve in my events. But to really answer this question, let's look at this scene from The Lion King.

The Lion King has always been one of my favorite Disney movies; it has great music, characters, and drama, but as I have gotten older, I began to notice the great lessons it teaches, just like the one in this scene. While we may not carry the weight of feeling responsible for the death of a parent, I am sure we have all been in Simba's position before: living in our past failures and disappointments. It may not be a fun place to be, but in reality, its so easy to have this mentality because failure is so common. In fact, being human automatically means you will fail and make mistakes because we are not perfect beings. So with failure being so common, how do we prevent ourselves from identifying as failures?

    Well, by looking at this scene, we can find our answer in the interaction between Simba and Mufasa. As Mufasa urges Simba to return home, Simba believes that he will not be able to because he is "not who he used to be." As he says this, Simba is looking at everything in his past and sees the outcomes of his actions to be much more, and he sees them as his identity. Mufasa, on the other hand, sees things differently. He tells Simba that he needs to look inside himself, not towards the external factors. You see, Mufasa doesn't tell him to look at what he has done in the past, he tells him to remember who he is currently. Along with this, he reminds Simba that he is his son and the one true king, two things that cannot be argued or taken away from Simba. 

    The lesson to take from this is that our identity does not come from our actions in the past or the outcomes we have achieved. These things are out of our control and do nothing for us. Our true identity comes from within and is found in the here and now. Essentially, our identity does not come from the amount of wins and losses we have, but through the way that we respond to those outcomes. It is through our responses that our true character comes from because our responses are fully within our control.

    While this realization is good, it is not easy. Just as Simba notes later on in the movie, being able to embrace your identity means that we need to confront and deal with the messiness of our past, which can be quite challenging. But as Rafiki wisely says, "the past can hurt, but the way I see it, you can either run from it or learn from it." This is why I always encourage the people I work with to not run from failure, but to embrace it. It is through failure that you can truly learn and get better from. 

So just as Rafiki asked, I will ask you all: What are you going to do? What will you do with everything that has happened to you in the past? Will you let the outcomes, mistakes, and failures define you, or will you learn from it and respond in a way that shows your true character? Failure may not be preventable, but as long as you remember who you are, you will come out on the other side much wiser and stronger than before!

Thank you for reading! I would love to hear what your thoughts on this are. If you have any questions or want to see how mental performance can make an IMPACT on your life, do not hesitate to reach out!