November is often the busiest and most stressful month of the year if you work in college athletics. The final push in football season, soccer and volleyball postseason events, and the start of basketball combine to make for some long days and nights.
It’s so easy to lose yourself in the day-to-day grind. Natural, and understandable, to let the pressures and demands of the calendar cause some added tension.
I’ve found that one of the most effective ways to overcome this feeling is simple awareness of it in the first place. Recognizing, “boy, I feel kinda stressed right now,” gives you a sense of control, as with awareness comes the power of choosing how you will respond and act.
With the ability to choose how to respond, why make the choice to react anything but positively?
This sounds, of course, eye- simplistic and easy to brush off. But challenge yourself to be mindful of these three qualities when times get hard, and I hope your awareness of your feelings can help you manage the month of November:
- Empathy for others and how they must be feeling
- Gratitude for the opportunity to be where you are
- Presence in experiencing the moment
-Brian