Ross Mandell Gratitude

Welcome to the Healthy Mindset App podcast where host Mike Hartman, a performance coach and former professional athlete, brings his passion to help athletes and workplace athletes achieve their dreams and goals while being mindful of everything else in life. Mike also uses this platform to share his targeted assessment applications. Healthy Mindset course meditation and goal setting technique for the athlete and workplace athlete. We're glad you're here. Now let's dive headfirst into this episode of the Healthy Mindset App podcast. Here's your host, Mike Hartman.

Playing sports is such a privilege. You know, some, some people never, never get to play just because of maybe a physical disability or just an ability in terms of that sport and a skill set or just financially, you know, growing up playing on quality teams with quality coaches and equipment, travel and tournaments and all that stuff isn't cheap. So, you know, just the fact of someone being able to participate in competitive sport and get coaching and development, camaraderie and having all these life lessons is something to have incredible gratitude for. And the, the act of playing that sport and the fun that you have is the foundation. But the life skills that you learn through these, these participation of sports is arguably unparalleled in the development of a young adult and a person. So, you know, when you play your sport, it's just to have gratitude, just to be able to do that and have all these opportunities to have experiences. You know, we are for who we are through our life experiences. So I have incredible gratitude for some of the experiences that I've had in my athletic career that have really helped me through very traumatic things in my life. You know, as a, as an athlete, we don't always make the right team and it can be quite frustrating or you don't start or don't get playing time, but we, while it's frustrating and may outright suck when it's happening, that's really just a metaphor and example of what happens in life. In life you don't always get what you want with people with relationships, with jobs and these things that happen to us through sport really help us prepare to be aware of just the fact that of the life's ups and downs and being able to avoid them and come back from them. When I was in eighth grade, myself and a few of my buddies that were my age didn't make the top travel hockey team and it was common knowledge that we all should have, not only should have made it, but we were arguably some of the better players. And there were politics with, you know, there was a coach that had took younger kids that he coached the previous year where there was. They were state champions and basically kept the entire team, including his son. And his son pretty much was the worst player by far. Should have never in a million years been on the team. So those things are frustrating, and it was crushing. It was crushing. But instead of sulking and. And just letting my frustration eat me, it fueled me. It fueled me to want to take advantage of the situation they had where I was going to be the best player on a team and be a leader and get a ton of ice time and have more skating time to develop my skills. And frankly, what was great about it is that that negative aspect of something happening to me allowed me to take advantage of some opportunities which wouldn't have happened otherwise. For example, we ended up scrimmaging the team. I was on scrimmage, that 18, that top team, the first goal of the game. I scored a pretty cool goal. This is when I was eighth grade. I'm 54 years old. I remember it. I remember that feeling of, see, I'm better, I'm good, I deserve to be on this team, right? But I did it through my actions, and I had gratitude that I was able to be on my, you know, the team with my buddies and show that we could compete with these guys that were theoretically the top team. And I had gratitude that I was able to have a situation where I could prove it, that maybe they made a wrong decision. I, even later that year was asked to play in a bunch of the games at the end of the season, including the state tournament, because someone got hurt. And I again, used that to be a positive force on that team. Score a bunch of goals, help win games. And, you know, those memories and that feeling of overcoming something and winning was. Was contagious. You know, it fueled me to want to do that more and more whenever something negative happened to me, because there's always going to be something negative. So be grateful for the when things are positive and be even more grateful when something doesn't happen. They have to overcome it because it's going to. To be a life lesson, right? So take that sport situation and fast forward to how does that help you in the future? I've had, like many people, many very negative things happen to me in my life, one of which is going through a divorce that was completely unexpected, pretty crushing, and again, as frustrating as it was almost overwhelming and overbearing in the beginning of it, when you take a step back and you look at the good things, the silver lining, and you're grateful for the positive things that came out of that marriage and relationship. But it opened up doors for things I was able to do and experience, you know, being single again and meeting new people and, you know, evolving in terms of who I was and who I could be. And that led me to, you know, the person I've been with for the last 13 years who is off the charts in a different universe beyond words, a better fit for me and has helped me become a better person. And combined, you know, we've created a life that I never would have had with my initial wife. So it ended up being a good thing. So I'm outrageously grateful for that. But I was able to overcome that no differently than in sports early in my life when I was in middle school and high school, having to overcome negative things. So be grateful when things are awesome, but when things aren't great, there's always a silver lining and a lesson to fuel you to be better and prepare you for the future. So be grateful for that as well.

We're so glad you joined us for this episode of the Healthy Mindset App Podcast with your host, Mike Hartman. If you're enjoying the show, please feel free to rate, subscribe and leave a review wherever you listen to your podcasts. That helps others find the show, and we greatly appreciate it. To dive deeper and learn more about the Healthy Mindset program, or to get in touch with Mike, please Visit our website, healthymindsetapp.com thanks again for listening and we hope you'll join us again in the next episode of the Healthy Mindset App Podcast. Until then, be well.