Feeling good losing…

In my last blog about sports, I shared lessons I have learned from basketball and tennis; some help me create new habits while some I am still struggling to find a solution – overcoming my uncomfortable moments on the court is one of them. Last week I played a tennis match and lost it…again. I was extremely angry at myself because I could not hit the ball and every hit was ugly. What I hated the most was in the middle of the game, I thought of giving up… I never wanted that but I could not let go of my negativity during the match. Just so you know, even sometimes I can write lesson-learned comprehensively, it does not mean I can already apply and successfully implement the lessons for my problems. It makes me think of social media nowadays where people can share tips about how to be happy, how to be successful, etc. buuuut what is behind all the tips is still a secret. It’s quite easy to compose a list of things but doing them is another matter.

A “good friend” of mine asked me why I wanted to share things on my blog because it seemed like all of my stories were very personal, especially in the context of the Internet where impossible (bad) things could happen. I also do not know exactly the reasons why I love doing this. But I know I enjoy writing a lot, it’s a way of organizing my thoughts and perhaps I also enjoy documenting the process of improvement which I have been struggling with. But this is a bit out of the topic, so I should get back. Hahaha

So, this week I have played some games and I felt so much better even when I lost. I was so proud of myself for the courage I had to throw myself out there and try again and again and again AND the courage to say YES to any invitation for playing a game. Of course, this does not happen overnight. I watched an inspiring video of Kobe Bryant and it helped me a lot in improving my sport-mentality. I was so inspired that I wrote a looooong text of how I apply his five pillars into my personal life and I think everyone can use the methods. Buuuut I need to discuss this with one person to see if it’s okay to publish =)))))))

I can share I point that I loooovee the most, it’s RELENTLESSNESS – never give in, always go after, go after, go after. Kobe said when he was eleven, after moving from Italy to the US and in one of his very first leagues there, he could not score a point, not even a free throw. It was devastating for him but he vowed to be better. I talked to myself “Do not be afraid of competing!” because “Maybe I’m not good today, tomorrow I will be better, but I would take the chance to measure my skills today.” If I do not join any competition, I will never know my level.

I made a test for my first week applying this principle, I set more realistic goals – instead of winning a tennis match, this week I only need to accomplish one or two games, then later three, then four, then one set, step by step. With this plan, winning the whole match was no longer my target. In the end, I managed to accomplish four games in the second set, my partner was one game ahead of me – it’s now 5 – 4 (which also means in the first set I lost to 6-0 hahahaha). We will finish the game this week. I realized the change in my mind, I was soooo happy when I reached my tiny goal and the rest of the game no pressure, just immerse and be present in the moment and play.

I am going to apply this to my German, speaking skill – I will take every chance to speak German. If people do not understand me, I will do it again and again. I will initiate the conversation and if people end up speaking English to me, I will explain that I am learning German and I am trying all I could to use the language. The goal is to initiate the conversation in German and keep it last for at least one or two minutes; of course, it also depends on other people if they want to talk to me or not hahahaha. Also, instead of only answering the questions people ask me, I will ask them back. Another goal is to make phone calls, it could be anything from asking for information to complaining – I already have one case that I could do it hahaha. I can start simply by saying simple things CLEARLY and CORRECTLY, for example wishing a cashier at a supermarket a nice day or asking a librarian the information, or always ordering food in German. Let’s see how it goes.

And today 13.02.2022 is a very lovely day. I just went out to play basketball and did two games. Really!!!! my life in Germany has taught me a lot.

I also plan to continue writing about my travels. This time it will be about my trips around Germany and my favorite destination in Germany. I still have a lot of pending writings about my trips to Scandinavia.