Mental Fitness When It Counts

Mental fitness isn’t just about maximizing performance when things are good.
It’s needed when the shit hits the fan — and it will.

I’ve been in the trenches when something truly terrible happened.
The things you never want to imagine:

• A spinal injury that left a player paralyzed.
  
  

• A coach who died because of an accident on the ice.
  
  

• A team captain who took his own life.
  
  

• An opposing player who died during a hockey tournament.
  
  

There’s no playbook for when it happens.
Emotions run high. Unresolved trauma gets triggered.

So what did the teams I worked with do?

First, they acknowledged the reality and talked about it — which helped suspend judgment.
All thoughts and feelings were okay.
We created a path forward.
Permission to feel and care — about the game and about life.
To hold grief in one hand and passion in the other.

They learned there were resources and strategies for coping — so they didn’t have to feel alone.

Adversity tests us. Adversity trains us.
Suspend judgment.
Find a path.
Feel it all — and still care.

That’s mental fitness when it counts.

Let’s change the conversation.
Character requires the skills of mental fitness.
Reach out to schedule a keynote or training — and let’s help you change the conversations in your life.