HIGHWAY HEALTH
HIGHWAY HEALTH
years pass develop the psychological and physical problems that eventually have to manifest themselves.
There’ s no getting around it; one way or another you are going to face the things that“ wind you up like a spring” and reap the benefits or the detriments.
So your next question may be how in heaven’ s name does one reap benefits from stress?
Let’ s take the world of athletics for example. I’ ve had the unique position of training athletes of all calibers and sports. All aspiring athletes have stress. It starts with demands from fathers or mothers, coaches, teammates, standings, averages, other teams, schools and media. Over the years, I’ ve seen many a promising athlete“ fold” under the pressure, leave their sport and move on to another life. For many, it wasn’ t that they didn’ t have the talent, the“ chops” or the love for the game. Many lacked an education in fortitude, and I will add just a small note that lack of fortitude in a young man is the product of poor coaches and motivators. Many athletes, who are talented, just get beat down by the politics and personal wars that have nothing to do with their sport.
I believe and have seen over the years that the athletes who do become proficient at their sport do not experience any less stress than the others. In fact, because of the“ thinning of the herd” they may be under even more stress. But they have learned through different experiences to harness their stress levels and use them
26 DrivingForceMag. com August 2013 • • •
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