Gymnastics Coaching Happiness

I wanted to take a little bit of a pivot this week to offer people a lecture/podcast on happiness that was highly requested from people.

Mental/Emotional health is such an important topic in our modern world. It’s crucial not only for our personal lives, but also in terms of how we can interact with other people. I also personally believe that finding ways to be happier and feel better about your daily life is one of the best ways to improve communities and cultures.

Like many people, I have struggled with this concept over the last 5-10 years as I try to navigate the everyday ups and downs of life. Managing my health, work, personal life, family, and free time is always a tricky balance. Life inevitably throws challenges and moments of feeling let down, and when you combine this with a technology-filled world that tends to bias gossip and negative news, it can be easy to get derailed.

I’ve always been a curious person, so starting early on in my career I studied a lot of personal development on the psychology of happiness, bouncing back from let downs or disappointments, and trying to live as best as I can despite negative events. Over the years I have read a lot on the subject, done a ton of trial and error, and have studied a lot of other people for their approaches to trying to live a bit happier each day.

I have found some things that really did help. Not only did they help me handle the inevitable chaos of life, it also has helped me be a better coach and medical provider. I think that this has been one factor that has allowed me to keep staying productive, motivated, and relatively healthy.

There was a huge amount of positive feedback for this lecture when I posted it, so I thought that it would be really helpful to turn into a podcast. I have posted the audio below, have uploaded the full lecture to YouTube, and have also included the slides/book recommendations below. Hope it helps!