Smiling in the Face of Adversity

Adversity. Sometimes You Just Have to Smile

Not too long ago, I was working with an athlete who faced adversity at one of his recent competitions.

When I looked at his scores I wondered if he had gotten hurt. His performance was much lower than he was capable of in every event he competed in.

Unfortunately, this scenario of under performing happens to many athletes far more often than you might think.  

 I asked if he had been injured at some point during the competition. He calmly replied, “no, I just had a very tough weekend.”

He went on to say, “it was simply a time where I faced a lot of adversity, and sometimes you just have to smile in the face of adversity and move forward.”

This is a perfect example of an athlete who decided to let go of a poor performance instead to dwelling on it and letting it affect future performances.  

He chose to focus on the current moment rather than dwelling on the past.

This was arguably one of the biggest competitions of his life and he failed. Yet there he was demonstrating the ability to accept the fact that he underperformed.

He avoided the temptation to negatively judge himself with self criticism and other forms of negative self talk.  This athlete was literally living out the phrase, “stay focused on the moment, let go of the past and resist the temptation to worry about the future.”

We all face adversity throughout our lives.  Sometimes it occurs in sports, other times in school or business. Adversity can occur in any area of our lives but it’s our chosen response to those moments of adversity that are key to our ability to rebound from those times of struggle.

It’s the ability to do what this athlete did and “smile in the face of adversity”. It will say a lot about your mental toughness and ultimately, have a strong influence on both your short and long-term success.

So the next time you are facing adversity, take a moment and give it a smile.