Sports Have Great Life Lessons in Them

One thing you may not know about me is that I am a huge sports fan. I love sports of all kinds. I loved playing sports when I was young and able to, and now I love watching almost all sports.

My two favorite sports are tennis and football.

The Australian Open is going on right now, which is a big professional tennis tournament in Australia. It lasts two weeks and is almost in its second week.

It is daytime in Australia, when it is night in the United states. So I tape all the tennis matches, but I try to stay up and watch as much as I can at night and then watch the matches I missed the next day.

My favorite tennis players are Roger Federer, Grigor Dimitrov, Nick Kyrgios and Rafa Nadal and they are still playing in the tournament. I will be watching them in the middle of the night tonight and early tomorrow morning and for the rest of the tournament. I am happy about that.

Since I was born in the Minneapolis, Minnesota area, I am also a huge die hard Minnesota Vikings fan and have been since I knew what football was. I started watching when I was young with my father and it is the one happy and good memory I have with my father. He taught me about sports and I love him for that. Watching sports was the one thing we could do together. We even watched boxing together. I loved watching sports and it was the one way I could safely bond and be close to my father.

Besides sports being great entertainment for me and a needed distraction for me at times, sports and athletic competitions have many life lessons in them for everyone, but especially for those with mental illness.

If you watch tennis, the good players play each point like it is their last. They never give up and are able to put their mistakes behind them, concentrating and staying focused on the present situation or what is directly ahead of them. They learn to take one game, one point, one moment, one stroke of the racket and one ball at a time.

The greatest tennis players give their greatest effort to each point, never giving up until the match is over. Sometimes they must play in dire conditions of over 100 degree temperatures with the sun blaring down on them or high winds spinning the balls in directions they do not have much control over. Sometimes they are injured and have to play through unbearable pain during brutal matches that sometimes last over four to even five hours.

These amazing tennis players, learn to overcome and endure their pain from injuries and from the physical exhaustion caused from hours of constant exertion from the sport. The game many times becomes survival of the fittest and is won by sheer determination and will power.

These are examples I need to live by. For my continuous recovery from severe bipolar 1 disorder, PTSD, generalized anxiety disorder and personality disorder, I must remember to stay positive and always have hope that I can win and be successful.

Surrounding myself by positive situations, people, thoughts and words is essential to help me stay well, just like the tennis player must keep thinking positively about his or her match regardless of the score of the game.

I must forget my mistakes of the past and stay focused on the present and be hopeful for my future life experiences and situations, just like the tennis player must forget the game he just lost or the big error he made on his last point, He must stay focused on his next point of the game.

In a football game or any sport, the great players play and never give up until the game clock says zero. The game is never over, until the game clock says zero. When I am in the middle of a severe depression, it is very important for me to learn to live one moment at a time and remember that the game is never over until it is over.

There is always hope. I can never give up and I must continue to fight through the severe pain of depression and other painful mental illness symptoms I have. Even if my brain is telling me to give up and end my life, I cannot give in to those lies. I must keep fighting no matter what, because you never know what the next minute of your life may bring.

In one more second, moment or day, my brain chemistry could change for the positive, or there could be a sign of hope, a spark of light, a heart full of love, a hug, a sign of hope, a flicker of life. You have to just keep holding on and never give, keep having hope and faith that things can and will get better.

If there is breath, there is hope.

If there is hope, there is life.

Here is a beautiful example from my Minnesota Vikings playoff game last Sunday…

to never give up.

The game is never over until the game clock

says zero (0.00),

even when the game clock

says ten seconds (0.10).

Get ready for…

an explosion of happiness. I love it!

Relive “The Miracle” Ending – The Minnesota Vikings Playoff game

I have watched this too many times to count and every time I watch it,  it makes me very happy and I always smile. Sometimes I even become a little teary eyed. I love this.

I will be watching both the play-off games tomorrow.

I want the Jaguars to win the AFC championship game

and of course, I want…

my Minnesota Vikings to win the NFC Championship game!

Go Vikings! SKOL!

Skol to the Bowl!!!

Bring it home to the Superbowl!

I foresee the Minnesota Vikings as the 2018 Superbowl champions in the horizon.

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Copyright © By Susan Walz and myloudbipolarwhispers.com – All written content and personal artwork is © myloudbipolarwhispers.com and Susan Walz. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author/owner/artist is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to My Loud Bipolar Whispers and/or Susan Walz with appropriate and specific directions to the original content. (With the exception of the NFL Vikings/Saints Playoff game video)

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