Every sport has very few legends.
Over a decade or a similar time period,
somewhere between 1 - 3 of such human beings surface.
Perhaps you have never wondered why such is the case.
For you picked it up from society that such humans
become who they become because of one or all of these traits...
genetics, practice, coaching, discipline, etc.
It "makes sense" to you,
as you diligently follow your "programs" and spent hours
perfecting your "technique",
and are able to see at least some "progress" over the months and the years.
Your "coaches", "therapists", and others around you
console you that
"You just need to keep practicing,
and one day you will be there too."
A part of you consoles yourself of the same thing.
While a greater part of you knows this is simply a lie.
Because given you are already in your prime,
even in your "best day",
you come short by a good ~15 kilos from the reigning world's best.
And this is not to mention the internal disbelief
that you, to this day, harbor.
For no matter, how much "positive talk" you indulge yourself in,
or how much relaxation and breathing "techniques" you have tried,
or how much "belief" others have in you,
you yourself do not feel that you have what it takes.
And every time the bar gets close to the number that "gets in your head"
you suddenly become meek and feeble inside.
Which does not go away how much "toughness" you fake outside.
You forget how you were grabbing the bar.
The grip feels unsure, so does your starting position.
Those around will say, this is how it is supposed to be.
Or that, you will get mentally tough "over time".
But I will say this instead...
this is how you will stay where you are,
flailing your arms and legs desperately trying to cling
on to your current numbers,
and inching forward by a kilo or 2 every year.
Do not believe me?
Look at others from your national team.
How far did they get?
Did they ever become a legend?
No. They DID NOT.
For one does not get "mentally tough"
"eventually" or "over time with practice".
Why?
Two reasons.
First,
"mental toughness" is merely a phrase, a label.
A label that the psychologists or mental therapists
came up with when they saw someone actually mentally
tough, a legend, do legendary things without breaking a sweat
or without getting near the "n" of the word nervous
Trying to be "mentally tough" will lead you astray for life.
For you will never learn what hides behind that phrase.
And second,
one is either that which hides behind "mentally tough"
TODAY,
or they will never be.
Yes.
If you are not wholly "mentally tough" today,
how do you expect that to be tomorrow?
For "mental toughness" will not magically grow with age
or like how your nails and hair do.
Understand dear friend,
you may be a legend deeper down,
but if you are not in touch with that legendhood TODAY,
then you are not a legend today.
And what is worse,
is that if you are stuck in the avenues of
"practice", "discipline", "technique", and what have you,
you will stay lost in them until it is too late.
For it will have become your norm.
When a thing becomes a norm in ones' life,
it becomes "their life".
It becomes so deeply ingrained,
that even though it might take them away from something that they
know they are destined for,
they will still be okay.
And today,
the avenues that you are stuck with
keep showing you a mental, imaginary promise of a "World Record",
but never allows you to feel it in your bones,
that you can actually nail a world record.
Does it?
It DOES NOT.
For if it did, we will have seen one from you already.
Or at least heard the "news".
But something tells me,
it will never happen.
For it is already too late
to get you out from that which you have taken for your home.
The "home" where your dreams are buried today.
Thank you.