Negative emotions are feelings that hinder your confidence and self-esteem. They affect your general life satisfaction and may surmount hate, anger, jealousy, sadness, anxiety, frustration, or choking.
Before we understand the different types of negative emotions and how you can cope with them, it is vital to recognise that emotions are not inherently bad or good. It is up to you to choose how you let it affect your mind and life. However, at times when you avoid addressing these emotions, they may start to interfere with your daily life and fog your judgment, making them problematic.
How do negative emotions stem in sports?
Sport creates a high-performance environment that triggers several emotions at different times. For example, thinking too much about the results leads to emotional turmoil, or the pressure to perform causes burnout and exhaustion. Similarly, an injured athlete experiences restlessness and feels helpless. A lost match induces self-doubt and low self-esteem. Any negative emotion draws attention to the negative aspects of playing a sport or participating in a competition. It often deprives athletes of the joy of playing the sport and celebrating sportsmanship.
Impact of negative emotions on performance
When you experience a negative emotion, you will notice a physical response
from the body. For example, frustration and anger cause muscle tension which affects muscle coordination. A lack of muscle coordination in an important game can affect fine movements. Similarly, anxiety can race your heartbeats and limit your breathing.
Negative emotions trigger self-doubt that directly impacts your ability to perform well. In the longer run, your inability to manage emotions can hamper your performance levels and even make you distance yourself from the game.
How to perceive negative emotions
It is important to understand that you do not want to eliminate negative emotions. Develop mechanisms to manage them when they start hindering your daily life. Here are a few things you can do to manage negative emotions:
- Perceive negative emotions as a challenge. It allows you to enjoy the sport and induces the will to fight. It enables you to view competition as exciting and enriching and helps focus your energy on your performance.
- The situation is still under your control. It is easy to spiral into a rabbit hole of emotions that restrict your ability to think clearly. Learn to stay calm and reinforce that your emotions and actions are under your control.
- Learn to channelise your emotions. Work with a sports psychologist or coach to emote and learn to channelise your emotions in a way that works for you. Develop mechanisms to overcome difficult situations like a panic attack or when you feel anxious during a game. Creating coping mechanisms helps you gain control of your emotions.
Allow yourself to express your emotions and develop mechanisms to channelise them for the better. You must seek help when times get tough.
Drop me a message if you want to gain control of your negative emotions.