What allows a door to open or close is its hinge?a door without a hinge just doesn’t work. Doors are entryways into or away from one area to another. In our lives, The Hinge connects who we are with who we become.
It will be the people, events, or moments that make all the difference and it only takes one! All of us will experience The Hinge at various points in our lives. Although we don’t know how events are going to turn out, we have to be ready. Our role is to be prepared and to act. In order for The Hinge to connect, we must possess mental toughness.
Mental toughness allows The Hinge to connect. It’s the skill that keeps us in the moment, to keep our head when others are losing theirs. Mental toughness involves grit, resiliency, and hardiness, traits that enable us to perform well under pressure and to cope with struggle. We all will experience times of pressure and breakthrough moments and we will also experience roadblocks, setbacks, hardships, doubt, and frustration.
We control the door-our mental toughness, and in order for The Hinge to connect, the door must be strong. We also control the handle-our decisions or actions that reflect our mental toughness.
Thanks to The Hinge, the door can swing either way, positive or negative. The experience may seem negative at first’a toxic relationship, a death, an addiction, abuse, injury, any bad event. Somehow, though, our test often becomes our testimony. Our mess becomes our message.
A positive hinge on the other hand only takes one person, moment, or event, which cements or ignites the belief in ourselves? a catch, a victory, a twist of fate, a decision, any successful outcome. It serves as proof that we are exactly where we are supposed to be.
Dr. Rob Bell (DRB) is a certified consultant of the Association of Applied Sport Psychology. He has PGA Tour credentials as a Sport Psychology consultant, has coached winners on the PGA Tour and caddied on Tour. He also was the Sport Psychology coach for the 2013 U-18 USTA National Champion. Dr. Rob Bell is the author of the new book, The Hinge: The Importance of Mental Toughness.
