Feeling good is overrated
I stumbled upon this quote from Ken Ravizza a while ago. Ravizza is a renowned sports psychologist and author of the popular mental performance book “Heads Up Baseball.” Ken’s work has impacted me in many ways, both as a baseball player and as a person. Like so many people who have a large impact, Ken’s words and messages have a way of making you think deeply. This quote: “feeling good is overrated” got me questioning the whole idea of ‘feeling good.’
When we think about peak performance, we often think about being in the zone. Athletes and coaches want to be in the zone all the time, or at least when they’re competing. To be in the zone, one needs to have ‘put the hay in the barn.’ To do that one needs to have discipline. More specifically: self-discipline. What does this look like? Going to practice when you really don’t feel like practicing that day. Waking up early for team lift, even when your warm bed is beckoning. Forgoing social activities so you can sleep an extra hour or complete homework. Reading. Drinking water. Eating a balanced diet. In short, self-discipline is doing things you’re supposed to do to be successful, not just doing the things that you want to do. That’s life.
What does this look like in sports medicine?
Yogi Berra eloquently described baseball as being “90% mental, the other half is physical.” I think this holds true of everything in life, not just baseball. We know pain isn’t limited to a simple physical sensation that someone experiences; there’s a psychological and emotional component to pain. Someone who’s injured has a very basic desire: feel better and not be hurt (or at least not in physical pain). Athletes experiencing an injury contend with self-doubt, loss of their athletic identity, and maybe even go through the grief process. When I have my Athletic Trainer hat on, it’s easy for me to become a technician and solve problems. Working with injured people is vastly more complicated than fixing physical problems. Believe it or not, it’s way more art than it is science.
So, why am I saying that feeling good is overrated? Because it IS overrated. I’m not advocating to ignore someone’s feelings or pain nor am I saying that we shouldn’t have goals to help someone feel better when they’re injured. What I mean is, we cannot accept the fallacy of feeling “100%” as our only metric of feeling better. Someone who doesn’t have an injury may not feel “100%” all the time, why should we expect this of someone dealing with an injury? What does feeling “100%” mean anyway? We are also dealing with feelings here too, which are complicated. Yes, we need objective measures of progress and ability, but we’re working with a person who is rebuilding their mind as well as their body from an injury. We cannot expect them to feel “100%” as they’re returning to sport. Getting cleared to play is a major milestone in the injury process and carries with it many emotions. This is the athlete’s ‘greenlight’ after months of feeling like they’re at a series of yellow lights.
Ken’s quote sparked 2 questions for me:
What does ‘feeling good’ mean?
What does ‘feeling 100%’ mean?
Truthfully, I don’t know. I’m not saying that getting someone to either feel good or 100% is a waste of time or a sham. I’d love to say that I’ve helped every injured person I’ve ever worked with to feel 100% better after their injury. I’d also love to say that I’ve gotten them to feel good as they return to their sport. But, that isn’t true, despite my best efforts. Don’t think I’m abandoning this endeavor ether, I’m just questioning what ‘feeling good’ actually looks like.
