Finding an Identity Outside of Sport
By Fee Teng Liew
When you enter into any job you may weigh up the pros and cons of taking on that role. However, in professional sport, a lot of athletes go full steam ahead without weighing up the pros and cons and solely rely on the enjoyment they have for that sport. Whilst pursuing something you enjoy is great, I believe it is also important, as with anything, to look at or at least be aware of the bigger picture. More specifically, I believe the psychological cons of being a professional athlete are frequently overlooked, or worse, seen as normality.
As I stated in a previous article I wrote for student-athletes (here), athletes are prone to having their whole identity revolve around their sport, not realising that there is so much more to them than their sport. Solely identifying as a professional athlete is definitely an appealing option, as it comes with labels such as “getting to travel the world”, “pursuing what you love”, “hard-working” and “highly talented”, amongst other positive attributes. Essentially, it gives you a sense of status around those who are not professional athletes, it is therefore, hard not to attach yourself to this.
In my personal experience of pursuing professional sport, there is a common misconception that you have to sacrifice all your time and almost all other parts of your life and give everything to this single sport. Because if you don’t do this, it means you’re not committed to the sport and are not taking it seriously. This can be known as ‘tunnel vision syndrome’ where an athlete will spend huge amounts of time only thinking about training, competition, and results. This was my mindset for a long time, and I wasn’t even aware of it. Further, I believe there are many other athletes out there with the same mindset and without a clue of what it might be doing to them internally. I have zero doubts that making sacrifices and being committed to the sport is crucial for success, however when it gets to a point of perfectionistic behaviours and high self-criticism, is when it becomes unhealthy and detrimental to your health.
In fact, many high-profile athletes have publicly shared about their experiences of post-retirement depression due to this, whilst there are likely to be many others that understandably chose not to talk about it publicly, especially if retirement was involuntary. Therefore, this issue is not something that should simply be brushed off.
So, what can you do to overcome this tunnel vision?
Seeing your sport as merely one of many parts of your life, rather than being your whole life, will be useful. Tapping into other interests or curiosities you might have, is another suggestion. Moreover, the experience you have of being an athlete can definitely enable you to seek out some great opportunities outside of your sport as you will possess unique skills that can certainly be transferred to other domains. It is also good to take time to invest in your relationships with friends and family. It can often be underestimated how much fulfilment you can get just by having a genuine sense of connection and love with those around you. Take a look around you. Be aware of your mental diet. Are you fostering an environment that promotes healthy patterns of thinking and behaving? What are you feeding your mind with every day?