Emotional Swings
By my mid-20s, I had developed the habit of letting my emotions swing at any sense of mental discomfort.
It didn’t matter if it was something irritating at work, a disagreement with my wife or a rude person in public.
Through my life, I had learned one response: push back
If I felt pressure or stress, my default was to resist it.
I’d shout, argue or complain.
Then I’d reach for some combination of food, booze and cheap entertainment.
The result?
I was irritable, impatient and overweight.
I was frustrated with myself and wanted to have more control over my mind and emotions.
But I did not know how.
The Wrong Mental Training Ground
I did “cardio” before I got into endurance sports.
But it was almost always high intensity.
Or at least right at that level of “hard” where I could push back on the desire to quit with more effort or more aggression.
It was the physical manifestation of the mental habits mentioned above.
Endurance training changed my approach.
I had never done low-intensity aerobic exercise until I signed up for my first 70.3.
As my training sessions increased in total time (and I practiced training with a low HR), I realized that resisting discomfort didn’t help me at all.
It felt like pushing back aggressively on negative thoughts actually took more energy and made me feel worse.
This Too Shall Pass
As I started to routinely complete low-intensity rides and runs, I realized that mental discomfort comes and goes - like waves in the ocean.
If I felt the desire to stop, quit, bitch or moan, I could accept it, look at it and just let the feeling sit there for a moment.
I was shocked at what happened next.
My desire to quit would fade, my mind would return to a relaxed state and I’d feel capable of continuing on for much longer.
And since the training was low-intensity, the physical effort wasn’t overwhelming.
One thing became clear: the secret was to focus on my breath
If I could control my breathing, I could ease my mind and completely reset - mentally, physically and emotionally.
I made progress controlling my emotions, became more patient with myself and started to interact with the world differently in daily life.
Stress Became Manageable
Over time, it became my default to stay calm when everything in my mind was telling me to freak out.
My mind used to say: scream, shout, lash out, prove them wrong
It started to say: relax, breathe, keep your cool, control yourself
I stopped bickering with my wife.
I stopped arguing with my friends.
I stopped panicking with problems at work.
I became clear that lashing out in a wild emotional swing would actually caused more stress than whatever the initial life stressor was.
Endurance gave me a new mental training ground helped me put in reps controlling emotions that had dominated me my entire life.
Every aspect of life improved.
Tribal Training Can Help
Do you need to improve your mindset, patience and take control over your emotions?
Are you interested in endurance sports or already signed up for your first race?
Let me help you.
The Tribal Training community membership has expanded to include beginner training plans for:
Olympic and 70.3 triathlon
50k ultramarathon
Members also get access to our weekly discussion forum, monthly team calls, library of written/video instruction and team gear.
There are only 5 spots available at $99/mo.
After those slots are filled, the price goes up.
Click here to learn more and join.