For many, coming up short at the Olympics will present some of the most difficult emotional experiences of their careers.
Learning Self-Compassion
One such resource for the athletes’ toolbox might be something called self-compassion.Being self-compassionate means athletes recognize they are experiencing an emotionally difficult time and want to do something to help themselves through it.
Research suggests self-compassion can be a useful resource to deal with failures and setbacks if athletes can treat themselves kindly rather than be harsh and self-critical. It can allow them to balance their thoughts and emotions and recognize that other competitors experience similar hardships.
Two other commonly used “self” terms in sport are self-confidence and self-esteem.
Self-confidence typically refers to athletes’ belief that they can be successful. Self-esteem refers to an overall evaluation of self-worth. Self-confidence and self-esteem are often linked—if athletes feel competent in sport, that competence can be an important part of high self-esteem.
On the other hand, being self-compassionate does not require feelings of competence or worth. It simply requires the recognition of suffering and a desire to help yourself through that suffering.
One exercise asked athletes to write a note to themselves expressing understanding, kindness, and concern in the same way they would talk to a friend experiencing the same situation. Athletes who took part in the intervention reported a significant increase in self-compassion, as well as significant decreases in concerns over mistakes, rumination, and self-criticism.
Emotional Safety
Rather than reacting to these types of challenges with harsh self-criticism, self-compassion offers a resource that allows athletes the emotional safety and mental strength to deal with these potentially negative experiences in a healthy and effective way.You might be wondering when self-compassion is useful for athletes—before, during, or after a competition.
Intervention work with athletes has typically encouraged them to recall a setback they recently experienced in sport and to respond to that situation with self-compassion.
Beyond Self-Esteem
While still in its relative infancy, there is a growing body of research that shows self-compassion is clearly relevant to the lives of athletes and has benefits beyond self-esteem. Athletes with greater levels of self-compassion have greater autonomy (the freedom to make and act on one’s own choices) and body appreciation, as well as lower reported levels of fear of failure, shame, and negative self-evaluation.Self-compassion also seems to increase an athlete’s perseverance and decrease passivity when they face failures and setbacks.
The evidence to date, both within and outside of sport, would suggest athletes’ concerns about being self-compassionate are likely not warranted. For many athletes who will inevitably encounter failures and setbacks, embracing self-compassion might be a vital part of a positive and successful Olympic experience.