So this Saturday is my first kettlebell competition. I’ve been excited about the challenge and I like training for something.

I also thought I wouldn’t be too nervous.

But I am.

And honestly, I’m surprised. I never really had anxiety while playing tennis in college. I mean maybe a few pre-match jitters if I really wanted to beat the team or new they were really good. But I never really suffered from “nerves.”

I had some for the powerlifting competition, but I don’t remember them being this bad.  Although maybe that had something to do with the fact that I had to drastically cut weight the week before and had never done that so was more focused on not eating and sweating out as much as I could than on the actually competition. (I was also very focused on making sure I had the proper equipment to compete so I guess I really didn’t have time even to truly think about being nervous.)

Anyway, I think I was mostly just taken off guard by the anxiety.

I have a solid goal for myself for the competition – I want to hit 88 reps in the 10 minutes. It isn’t an outrageous goal, I’ve hit it in practice a couple of times.

But for some reason knowing that I CAN do it and HAVE done it, doesn’t relieve my anxiety.

And on top of that, I don’t even have to lose much weight to make weight!

So really, there is nothing to be nervous about!!!

Right?

I mean logically I know there is no point to wasting any energy being nervous. I know I’ve trained as hard as I can and eaten well and done everything I can to be ready.

But still…

Nerves aren’t logical!

And facing a new and slightly unknown challenge is always scary.

But just like the powerlifting competition, I always feel so much stronger when I’ve managed to push myself to do something outside of my comfort zone – when I’ve managed to push through the nerves.

I mean…Isn’t that how we really grow?

P.S. Here is a great article that one of the owners posted to our team page today. It really motivated me and made me calm down a bit!