Written by Whitney Miller, Endurance Trainer & Mindset Coach, Transcend Health & Wellness
At the beginning of the year, I received an email informing me I was being inducted into the University of Indianapolis NCAA Hall of Fame for a part of my collegiate swimming career!
Receiving this wonderful achievement, honestly, wrecked my mindset. Here's where my mindset went...
First- "What an amazing honor! This is so exciting!"
Next- "I feel like this validates everything I've done to get to this point." (uh.... what?!)
Then- "Do I even deserve this? That was the year I competed sick at the GLIAC Conference meet when we won..." (self worth plummeting at rapid speed...)
So, when I say this email wrecked my mindset - I mean it.
This honor was incredible and it made me question my worth, my experience, my athletic career as a collegiate swimmer, my expertise as a coach, and the entire business that I've built coaching athletes.
WHAT?!
After a couple of conversations with other athlete friends, some mental mindset self-talk work, and the reminder that this had nothing to do with my worth, I was able to accept the honorable award with pride and celebration!
And as I attended all the Hall of Fame celebrations with my former teammates, I was also monitoring, noticing, and letting go of all the things I had thought since I was first notified of the honor.
THIS IS A HALL OF FAME MINDSET.
And let me tell you, you don't have to be inducted into a Hall of Fame to adopt and practice this mindset.
It's a power practice. It comes with every moment you see yourself turning into someone you don't want to choose. It comes with every moment you notice that your thoughts are not creating the reality you want for yourself. It comes with practice and it does not ever become something you master.
I've never mastered swimming, I practiced. All my life. I practiced. I may know more than many about swimming. I may be able to perform different strokes better than some. I am not a master, I am a person of practice.
This incredible honor of becoming a NCAA Hall of Fame athlete came with celebration, excitement, pride, and joy however, it also came with not so wonderful thoughts, negative mindsets, and behaviors.
I had to remind myself, it can be both. Mindset can be both. I can learn to choose to celebrate my accomplishment, my grit, my commitment to my lifetime sport, AND know that it may drudge up some icky thoughts and emotions all the way.
That mindset is the foundation of what has supported my mental health as a lifelong athlete and now Endurance Trainer & Mindset Coach. When my mental health and mindset starts to veer off my “normal” path I go back to asking myself, how can I be a person of practice? How can I choose the experience I want for myself and my life?
Being a person of practice made my experience of becoming an University of Indianapolis NCAA Hall of Fame member the experience I wanted- not the one I was dreading. As I look back on all the moments of my Hall of Fame experience I am celebrating who I am as a woman, an athlete, a coach, and everything that led me to this moment!