Just finished running my first international boxing and stress management workshop in Sweden
The night before the workshop I barely slept. Although in general I’m much more relaxed these days, doing something new still brings up familiar feelings of self doubt.
Will I be good enough?
Will people like it?
Do I know my stuff, will I remember what I want to teach?

I haven’t been doing this stuff long enough to be 100% confident in what I’m doing. Of course the solution to building confidence is finding ways to practice the skill. For me that means delivering more workshops until I can do it with my eyes closed!

At the end of a workshop I like to ask people what was their biggest learning?
For me it was remembering the power of balance

As a boxer, without balance we have no power in our punches. When we are off balance we are weak and vulnerable to attack

Life is exactly the same. Without balance we become reactive, stressed out and burned out

Most of us are so out of the habit of living with balance. We are conditioned to go faster, work harder, fit more stuff into our already overpacked lives

In order to beat stress and feel happier and more fulfilled, we need to practice balance and taking time for ourselves
Time to slow down
To learn to relax
To just breathe

Time to do things just for fun (ask yourself when was the last time you did something just for fun?)
Some of us find relaxation difficult. I know I used to. I used to find it agonising to still for 5 mins without looking at my phone! Again we’ve conditioned ourselves to live in fight of flight more

Boxing is a great way to start to change your brain set. Start by punching out the stress, then it becomes easier to slow down and reset yourself

Balance makes you stronger – def a skill worth practising me thinks :)