Athletics & Average Advice: How to be a mindful superstar

Be you biggest critic

At some point in your life, you've been criticized for one thing or another. It could've been for your style of play in sports, how you do things around the house and work, or even how you think and feel. I will say that criticism is a necessary evil. You may not like it, but sometimes you have to hear it. Truth be told, criticism is very much welcomed, but you must know the difference between constructive criticism and just being criticized and scrutinized.

When it comes to becoming your own critic, it means knowing what your passions are, what drives you to be better, what makes you happy, what makes you sad, and what makes you angry. You need to be self-aware about the things that you do as well. Only you know what makes you "go" better than anyone else. Becoming a critic of yourself means asking yourself the tough questions and challenging yourself to be better than yesterday. I know I want to be the best version of myself. How about you? It helps with your growth process. If you aren't aware of the things that you do, how can you expect the best version of you to come to fruition?

Professional athletes get criticized all the time by regular people, sportscasters, and writers. Athletes are more than likely their own biggest critics. When you can perform on such a high level in a sport, you're going to be hard on yourself when things don't go right. Your feelings are going to be a little hurt, but it's all about how you bounce back. I will say that regular people always believe that they have the solution to why an athlete didn't do as well and provide their reason as to why. Some people make good points. Others tend to overly criticize the person. We all are on the outside looking in and must remember that athletes are human too. Depending on the sportscaster, their critique of someone can come off as honest and logical, or come off as nitpicking and hating. If people don't like you for you, then you're doing something right.

During my sophomore year of high school, I remember my track coach telling me about what my football coaches had said about me. Curious, I asked him what they said. He then tells me this: "I've never seen you play football before, but according to the coaches, you're not going to college to play football." It may have been an honest critique of my game (I was still fairly new to the game), but I will be damned if another man tells me what I'm not going to do. I didn't have a good season as a sophomore and was on the bench and after the season the head coach told me "we're going to turn you into a football player." I really wasn't trying to hear it at that point and stopped caring about football as much. Funny thing about that is the strength coaches that I in college had asked me and a few of my teammates if I wanted to play football. They had the leverage to get us on the field and on the team and they knew of our otherworldly speed. At that point I was four years removed from playing. Plus, I didn't feel the need, nor have the passion to play football anymore. I love football, I really do. I don't love as much as I love track. During my college career, I remember I had teammates that would laugh and criticize me for being upset with my performances on the track. I also had the ones that knew of my potential and offered constructive criticism whenever they could. Most people that know me know that I have a passion for track and field and love it a lot. Sometimes, my passion got in the way of my races and caused me to be a perfectionist. If something didn't go right, I would be very critical about what I did wrong. Now, there is nothing wrong with wanting excellence for yourself. You just have to remember why you started in the first place and come back with tenacity. This concept can be applied in all aspects of your life. I remember one instance where my teammates called me "dramatic" for one of my performances at a meet. They even said that I needed to be "humble" about my success and what was going on because I had broken two school records in back to back weeks. They didn't say it to me directly, they said it in their own group chat with other people and I just so happened to see it. I'm the type of person that doesn't care if you talk about me, but don't do it behind my back. If you have something to say to me, say it to ME. Don't go and tell someone else about me. My coach and I had already discussed what went wrong during my race and told me I needed to rest because I had personal bests in back to back weeks. It was just my body's way of recalibrating itself. A close friend of mine told me to "keep my head up on Twitter." He knew about my recent success on the track at the time and knew I didn't run to the standard I wanted to. Honestly, he knows me better than most people do. I told him I won't allow myself to have a performance like that for the rest of the season so long as my body held up. He texted me and asked were there some underlying factors that happened after the race. I admitted that one of my high school teammates had said something to me at the meet and it came off as disrespectful. I'm not going to get into the specifics of what he said because it was over two years ago and what he said doesn't matter now. I didn't address it with the people involved then, but I also didn't feel the need to. I just gave them the cold shoulder and kept it moving.

I am my biggest critic. I will admit that. But I'm also aware that not everything needs to be over analyzed either. I welcome constructive criticism when necessary and ignore the scrutiny. These days, I've learned not to care what other people think. That's part of my growth process. After graduating from college, I had to look at myself in the mirror and ask myself: "Where do you want to be in the next five years Therius? What do you want out of life and how hard are you willing to work to reach your dreams?" I'm currently in graduate school and I'm working on getting my master's in Public Health. Eventually, I want to become a health educator, but I've had a couple of side projects that I'm hoping to see come to fruition. One thing I've always wanted to do is open my own non-profit organization that helps low income families pay for basic utilities such as water and electricity while also providing food for those in need. I've already began to make it happen and I should have it up and running by May 2020. Being a contributor to the community and making a difference has always been a big passion of mine. One of my professors in undergrad would always define Public Health as being, "in the business of change." The definition of Public Health is determinant of whoever you ask, but I've always held my professor's definition in high regard. It's true. People in Public Health want to see change happen from a local, state, national, and global standpoint. That is why I became a Public Health student in the first place

In order to become your own critic, you must be willing to analyze yourself. Self- evaluation is an aspect that some of us haven't yet mastered. When you've been honest with yourself and looked at everything about you, that's when it's necessary to welcome constructive criticism. Whether it's good or bad, it's necessary to your growth. Even though it's from an outside source, it helps to learn what others see in you. It can take you to higher heights faster. Constructive criticism is the criticism that is welcomed because it's honest and just. People wouldn't give it to you if they didn't care about your growth or didn't want to see you win. Like I stated earlier, it's a necessary evil. The other type of criticism that's out there is the type where people just say anything and everything to get a reaction out of you. Most people will criticize you for being you. They don't like the way you do things because it doesn't follow their way of thinking and doing things. They get joy in scrutinizing you because they have nothing better to do. I've worked with people who've scrutinized me even though I would always do the correct thing. One way I learned how to deal with it is to wish them the best and not react to the situation. Critics hate when you don't give them the reaction they're looking for. Sometimes the best reaction is no reaction. When you know and are aware of yourself as a person, scrutiny and criticism from naysayers goes in one ear and right out of the other.

It's safe to say that some outside criticism is necessary. You need to know the difference between the good and the bad types. Maybe you took something away from my advice. If so, I hope you begin to apply it to your everyday life. Always remember, be your biggest critic. Welcome constructive criticism and live above scrutiny.