Tennis Improvement Memo 530.1mm of Discomfort Tells You Everything—How to Find the "Right Path" in Tennis and Relationships

A mere 1mm shift in your grip creates an "intense sense of discomfort"—.
But that is not a failure; it is a sign your mind and body are giving you.
Both in tennis and in life, it is a journey of finding the "path that suits you" through discomfort.

▶ There is no such thing as a bad feeling or emotion. Everything has meaning.

The grip is a delicate part.

It is not uncommon for people to feel an intense sense of discomfort even if they change it just a little.

I think this is something you can understand as a sensory experience (I will discuss later why this "ability to feel" is important in tennis, trying on clothes, and human relationships alike).

Even if you usually hit your forehand with an Eastern grip, try holding it with a semi-Western grip for a change.

Even a 1mm shift will cause a tremendous sense of discomfort, right?

A grip is also a form, so it is a "form".

The grip might be the first thing you learn on your first day of tennis lessons.

Therefore, with conventional tennis instruction, you stumble from the very first day.

You begin to stray from the "path that suits you".

▶ "To each their own" is the correct answer for both opinions and hitting styles

You might think, "Wasn't the discomfort a teacher?" (Related article: ""Discomfort" is an important signal from the heart").

Yes, that is why it is an ally to us.

Just as there is no single correct answer for form, there are no mistakes in sensations or emotions.

Any sensation or emotion is a signal from your mind and body that you are allowed to feel.

For example, if you feel cramped when trying on clothes, that discomfort is a teacher telling you, "This doesn't suit you right now."

Of course, just as there is no right or wrong in the size or shape of clothes, there is no good or bad in the feeling of being cramped, and discomfort is simply a teacher telling you that it "doesn't fit".

Saying things like "This opinion (form) is correct! That opinion (hitting style) is wrong!" is just an arbitrary assumption, and "to each their own" is the correct answer.

▶ The shortcut to the fastest improvement is "lots of discomfort"

Tennis is the same.

If you feel discomfort when changing your grip, it is neither right nor wrong; it is your mind and body telling you that it does not suit you at this moment.

This applies not only to the grip, but also to the take-back, impact, and follow-through.

Feeling discomfort is by no means a bad thing.

By filtering through this discomfort and narrowing down what doesn't suit you, you will eventually encounter the methods, approaches, ways of thinking, and people that truly fit you best.

Therefore, experiencing as much discomfort as possible, as quickly as possible, is also a key to achieving the fastest improvement (and happiness).

The fact that the perfect answer for you remains in the end is just like the "Amidakuji (Ghost Leg) Theory" based on cerebellar motor mechanisms (Related article: "The 'Amidakuji Theory' for Wiring and Organizing Cerebellar Circuits").

▶There is no such thing as failure. There is only the "success" of discovery.

In that sense, there is no such thing as "failure" (Related article: "The Essence of Failure Studies").

As Thomas Edison said, it was a discovery that "this material was not suitable as a light bulb filament" (Related article: "That Failure is a 'Seed of Success'").

To find the bamboo filament that was the optimal solution at that time, all he had to do was try as many uncomfortable things as possible, as quickly as possible, which is the point.

▶The "Discomfort Sensor" that can also be applied to human relationships fosters self-confidence.

Human relationships might be the same.

"Something feels off about this person..." The discomfort you feel is a sign that your mind and body are sending you.

Just like clothes you try on, there is no right or wrong person, but it is a sign telling you that it feels restrictive because "it doesn't suit you right now."

Things go wrong when you try to force a relationship (Related article: "People Who Suffer from '100 Friends'").

Trust that feeling, rather than specs or other factors (Related article: "*1-2: Is the Criterion for Choosing Specs or Feelings?").

That "feeling" fosters the "self-confidence" to believe in yourself.

▶If you ignore discomfort, you will get badly burned.

There is no such thing as a useless feeling or emotion.

Everything is necessary.

If we didn't feel pain, we would keep slicing our fingers with a kitchen knife (Related article: "A body that feels pain. A mind that feels anxiety").

Heat may certainly be unpleasant, but if you didn't feel it, you wouldn't have the reflex to pull your hand away when touching a boiling kettle, and you could suffer severe burns.

▶ Form should be custom-made, not ready-made

The discomfort in tennis is also certainly an unpleasant sensation, but if you don't feel it, you could suffer severe burns.

Even with clothes, if you are captivated by the appearance (form) and try to force yourself to wear them, you will eventually stop wearing them, and it will cause stress.

In tennis, too, it is best to play with your own custom-made swing that doesn't force you into a mold (form), rather than a ready-made swing.

This is the secret to enjoying tennis stress-free (and living happily) (Related article: "How to create a custom-made swing, not a ready-made one").

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