Emotions

Our emotions affect every aspect of our lives. From the physical to the mental, the emotions we feel and the way we express them change how we live from day to do.

In terms of physical, the way our emotions affect us are quite easily illustrated in a person who is depressed. Have you ever seen a depressed person (or a person who says they’re depressed) stand tall and confident? Emotions influence our posture, our pain thresholds and even the ability of our muscles to contract optimally.

Our mental being acts similarly to the emotions that we experience on a daily basis. Concentration, reasoning (common sense) and understanding all get blurred by how we feel about a certain situation. Common sense is easily thrown out the window and reason is easily shrouded by hurt, sadness and anger.

The ability to put your emotions aside, especially with training and diet comes easy to some, but very difficult to most. I, for one, am easily influenced by the situations around me and allow my emotions to cloud my judgement and influence my physical. Over time it improves, but it’s difficult to block out emotions completely.

I’ve learned that it’s not always about blocking them out completely, but more about leaving the emotions at the door, especially with training. Pick them up when you leave if you must, but sometimes it takes the little effort of focusing on the task at hand for the things that felt so overwhelming to feel insignificant when you leave.