Overcoming the Yips 052: The Yips Are Merely a 'Symptom'—Reclaiming Your Challenge (Part 1)

Regretting saying or doing something only happens because you cannot imagine the opposite. Failure is not 'proof of incompetence,' but a valuable experience. Naomi Osaka, who once struggled with hesitation, now says, 'The challenge is the most fun part,' now that she has recovered.The yips are a 'symptom,' just like a cough or a runny nose. The harder you try to suppress them, the harder they are to cure. That is why one small challenge a day is the turning point of your destiny. To live is to challenge yourself.

▶ Embracing the heart that feels 'regret'

People who regret saying something, thinking 'I wish I hadn't said that,' cannot imagine the regret they would have felt if they hadn't said it.

I wish I hadn't said it.

I wish I hadn't done it.

I wish I hadn't challenged myself.

You feel regret because you cannot imagine the opposite.

▶ Regret from doing vs. Regret from not doing

You may have said it, but if you hadn't, you might have regretted it even more.

You may have done it, but if you hadn't, you might have regretted it even more.

Of course, since we haven't experienced the alternative life, we can't know for sure, but regret is always a sour-grapes excuse for a future we never saw (see related article: 'How to Never Have Regrets').

In that case, 'better to regret what you did than what you didn't do.'

Psychological research suggests that while short-term regret is more common for 'things done,' looking back at life as a whole, 'regret for things not done' is overwhelmingly more common.

▶ Failing doesn't mean you're no good

If you rush to the net and fail, you think, 'I shouldn't have gone.'

If you aim for the line and hit it out, you think, 'I shouldn't have aimed for it.' If you hit it too hard and it goes out the back, you think, 'I should have hit it more carefully.'

But that is because you cannot imagine yourself not going or not aiming.

If you don't go, you certainly will never fail, but you will also never succeed.

If you take this to the extreme, you end up thinking, 'It would have been better to do nothing at all.'

In other words, it leads to the thought, 'I wish I had never been born.'

▶ Thinking "I wish I had never been born"

"I wish I had never been born."

If that were the case (though I wouldn't have succeeded), I wouldn't have failed either...

I can hear the voices of those who do not challenge themselves.

When things are tough, it is certainly natural to think that way, but that is because it is an "illness" such as depression.

You might think that calling it an illness is discriminatory or prejudiced.

However, just as the word "illness" implies, like a cold, the tendency to think "I wish I had never been born" when you are sick is merely a "symptom," just like coughing or a runny nose.

If that is the case, just as resting or keeping warm helps you recover, it is an "illness" (not a matter of character) that can be cured with treatment.

Therefore, for the yips as well, the fact that your arm moves or freezes on its own is merely a symptom, just like coughing or a runny nose, so it is better to classify it as an "illness" to recover faster (related article: "You will recover more smoothly if you classify the yips as an 'illness'").

▶ Do not interfere with the "symptoms"

By the way, when you are sick, the basic rule is to "not interfere" with the symptoms.

Symptoms like coughing and a runny nose are the body's sophisticated reaction to try and expel a virus.

If you force them down with medicine, things that would have healed will become harder to cure.

Just because someone has bulimia, if you forcefully restrain the "symptom" of eating and vomiting by using handcuffs, that person will go insane.

The yips are the same.

Your arm freezing or moving on its own is merely a "symptom."

Do not restrain it with a cast or anything similar. Much less,

do not try to move or stop it with your "consciousness" (related article: "The 'Absolute Basics' of Yips Treatment").

The cause lies in the "stress" of feeling danger or anxiety (related article: "The reason why rallies become unstable when playing against someone who is out of your league").

▶ Naomi Osaka, a crossroads of fate

As she has revealed herself, the Naomi Osaka of the past may have been like that (prone to depression).

But now that I've recovered, when I say 'Challenge is the most fun', that is what I mean (related article: Create a signature move. 'Challenge is the most fun' by Naomi Osaka).

It is true that if you fail at a poach, you might hesitate to try it again.

If you miss a straight shot, you might decide to play it safe and return to the cross-court for a while.

If you hit a 'hage-uchi' (risky shot) and it goes out the back, you might only be able to hit shots that are meant to just get the ball in.

That is the fork in the road of your destiny.

Your thoughts, words, and actions become patterned, so if you fail and hesitate, you will increasingly become a hesitant, passive person.

If you keep poaching even after failing, you will increasingly become a person who takes on challenges.

A miss is certainly shocking.

After all, that one ball was the trigger for your yips (related article: It is a natural reaction to feel desperate and think 'I will never recover').

▶ To challenge is to live

So, are you continuing the challenge (experiment) of doing something different once a day?

To challenge is to live.

Even if you fail, you might not realize it now, but as Justine Henin says, you are accumulating the value of experience, aren't you?

When you were a baby, you might have been wobbly, and you didn't know it at the time, but that was the 'solid experience' needed to learn how to walk.

▶ Small daily failures are also valuable experience

Even if you aren't doing experiments, you might encounter unexpected 'failures' in your daily life today, tomorrow, and the day after.

If you can think of those times as 'experience,' you will lead a life where 'there is only success' (related article: A method to ensure results where 'there is only success'!).

Even babies take on challenges.

There is no reason why adults cannot.

That is what it means to 'live'.

Continues in the second part of the series.

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