With Sarah Hildebrandt
STEP INTO THE UNKNOWN
Lead and make all decisions through a lens of courage and love. Courage is really a big one because your path to success is not others' path to success. There's gonna be a moment where you really have to reflect inward and it's gonna be uncomfortable. You're actually gonna mess up a lot, and that discomfort is often where most people turn away because it's uncomfortable. Nobody wants to be there. Really great athletes sit with the discomfort and try and figure it out. The best seek it out once they realize how important that discomfort is and how much you can learn and grow within that. Be courageous and truly, truly, truly step into the unknown. It is uncomfortable for a reason. That's where growth is.
FIGHT DOUBT
For me, doubt is probably the most uncomfortable. Doubt can do two things and they're both terrible for wrestling. You're either stuck in the sand or you're imposing things that aren't there. It can freeze you, but in that freezing you might recognize yourself.
When you face doubt, there are moments of pausing and going, and controlling and letting go, and somewhat effortlessly flowing through those ideals that are so opposite of each other. For me, recognizing and reacting to doubt is something that you can practice. Doubt is typically when you're trying to predict the future. “Oh, my single leg's not gonna work,” or “I'm not gonna win the match,” or “Time's gonna run out.” Whatever it may be, I ask myself, how can I get to the present moment as quickly as possible?
EMBRACE THE NOW
What can bring me out of my brain, into my body, and into the present moment? In the present moment, it is just that second. There is no doubt. There is no joy. There is just right now and what can I do in a singular second? Can I string together enough present moments to get the outcome I'm looking for? I think doubt is a sign that you're even just five seconds ahead, and that could be detrimental in a six-minute match.
OWN EVERY CHOICE
I think I'm willing to sit in discomfort. I don't know if I'm comfortable in it, but I'm willing to be uncomfortable. I wanted to take radical accountability of everything, and it's a terrifying thing because when you mess up, there's only one way that finger is going to point, and it's right back at yourself. You've got to trust all these steps in the face of people you trust telling you something different. It's very intuitive. It requires a lot of awareness and presence because you have to check into that moment. You’ve got to weigh things of the future, of the past. And you have to have a lot of courage because when you shake hands at the end of the match and it does or doesn't go your way, that's gonna fall on you and your work, not just your wrestling, but every little detail that went into it.
Wrestling asks you to step into the unknown, face the doubt, and own every choice. The only way through it is to stay in the moment.
