What now?
reflection, sharing stories & vulnerability
Hi!
Firstly massive thanks for all the support on my first article :)
I didn’t think it would resonate with as many people as it did so glad that my experience and journey can be of use to others. Upon uploading it and setting my laptop down I became stumped with a somewhat surprising feeling of “okay, now what?”
What do I write now? What’s next?
When I decided to share my writing I didn’t do it with many expectations in mind, just an underlying feeling that maybe it was the right thing to do. Over the last few years I’ve learnt a lot about how important reflection, sharing stories and vulnerability are as human practices, particularly in elite sport. They’re what create self growth, community and relationships, and it’s been through friends, mentors and professional support that I’ve learnt how valuable they are. Without them and the people who showed me how important they are I don’t think I would have been able to get through some really dark periods I’ve had.
These principals were what was floating around in the back of my head when I decided to press the share button on all of this, and are what I hope stays floating through my head when I share again in future.
I think the question of “what now?” and the underlying sense of panic, urgency and anxiety that comes hand-in-hand with it is probably due to my lowkey (okay maybe highkey) perfectionism and the notion I needed to have another article perfectly curated and ready to post ASAP. But the issues with that is I don’t quite know what that next “perfect” article should be.
I get wrapped up in the pursuit of perfection on the best of days, but I don’t want this page getting trapped in that same situation. So instead of fixating on perfection and finding the ideal next idea to write, I’m forcing myself to just progress instead.
To simply write with those same principles of reflection, sharing stories and vulnerability in mind, rather than a need for this all to feel perfect.
So basically I don’t quite know what I’m going to write about. I don’t quite know how often it will be shared. I don’t even really know who the audience for this work is. But I know if it can be of any sort of help to anyone going through similar situations then it could be a good thing.
If you have any ideas of what you would like to see me write about than let me know!
Feel free to comment, send me a message or respond on Instagram. Whether it’s about my journey as a coxswain, the Olympics, mental health & wellbeing, coaching, study or anything else, always happy to try and share some insights.
I’m also uploading another article today as a little training diary/mish-mash of current thoughts through this euro campaign, so feel free to go give that a read too ;). It’s a bit random and all over the place, but resisting the temptation for the need for it to feel perfect before sharing.
I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for others sharing their stories with me, so am excited to try and do the same.
- Hayley :)