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In essence, it is life skills, Loberg explains.
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People look at [Olympians] as if theyre special people, and theyre not.
Theyre people with special talents.
Everyone experiences some level of anxiety, which isnt necessarily harmful unless it interferes with your daily life.
So sports psychologists instead teach their athletes to come to terms with their anxiety.
Anxiety tends to crop up in stressful situations with uncertain outcomes.
For elite athletes, that often means tunnel-vision focus on the judges scores and the medals.
You only have control over yourself.
Loberg tells her athletes to ask themselves, Is this something that I have control over?
She tells Shiffrin, Visualize going through the media and answering all the different questions.
Visualize a tough weather day out there, throwing yourself at every single turn.
Ive done it a million times, in sun, in rain, in snow, in wind.
Youve already been there.
How would you handle those situations?
Orif your mind is going to even more catastrophic placesimagine everything going so poorly that you lose your job.
How would you get back on your feet?
The key word here ispractice.Sure, Just breathe is a great slogan, but its not very useful.
You see people get super anxious and say, Oh Im going to do breathing.
So its a skill that you have to develop, being able to control your breathing.
After pausing for two counts, you’ll repeat that breathing sequence another three times to complete your square.
Or, for other ideas, try looking to your phone.
Sometimes, old-school works.
The tried-and-true method of journalingjotting down whatever thoughts and feelings are bouncing around your headcan be surprisingly effective.
Sometimes in the moment, you just need to get it out, Loberg says.
It can be the negative thoughts, the positive thoughts, whatever its going to be.
This tip can also come in handy for working on an anxiety-management plan in your next therapy session.
Sometimes she will text the notes to Loberg, sometimes not.
You dont have to always share them with someone.
This ones a biggie.
Mindfulness can be a wonderful tool for helping us tackle anxiety in its many forms.
The practice of mindfulness isnt a quick trick, though, Gervais emphasizes.
Its another skill you have to cultivate for it to be effective when you need it.
But mindfulness doesnt necessarily have to mean the traditional idea of meditation.
She has many athletes that rely on apps (e.g.HeadspaceorCalm) to keep up their practice.
