the power of vision

i remember the times when i was actively playing basketball. that was before i undergone ACL reconstruction surgery on my right knee. back then i would envision myself doing things on the playing court, both on offense and defense.

well, i don't really envision what time of the game i would do it. i just envision it. the kind of pass i want to make. the kind of defense that would make my opposition bleed for points. the kind of shot i want to make over my defenders.

i would envision every movement i want to make. where would i put my right foot and left foot. which hand would i use to hold the ball. i have screenshots of the movement i want to make in my brain. frame by frame. i can even see which part of my body perspired the most.

the best thing about my vision is: i envision myself doing my moves against the best opposition there is. i envision myself doing a spectacular layup against the opposition's best defender and i envision myself stealing the ball from the opposition's best point guard or blocking the shot opposition's best scorer.

sounds conceited, right? but envisioning yourself doing amazing things builds up your confidence. and when you're confident, you can do a lot of amazing things like blocking the shot of a 6foot2 guy when you're 5foot6.

vision. it gives you confidence. trust me. been there. done that.

i remember the slogan of pharmaton before. what your mind conceive, your body can achieve. you cannot be competitive if you're not confident you can beat your opponent. you cannot win over your rival if you cannot win over yourself. it all starts with confidence. you have to trust your own body and your own training.

don't be unfair to yourself by doing all those trainings and preparations and then tell yourself after that you're not good enough. you're always better than you give yourself credit for. keep in mind, you can be faster, tougher and stronger if you just put your mind to it.

i am not, in any way, saying that you have to be conceited. conceit and confidence are 2 different things and don't confuse yourself to it. you can be confident while being humble. actually, you have to be confident and you have to be humble about yourself. humility is not deflecting praises either but i am not going to delve into that. what i am just trying to say is, give yourself a chance to achieve more and better things by pushing yourself to your limits. if i can have it my way, i would say that you just have to push yourself further because there's no limits to what you can do. really.

so for this coming june 17, i am envisioning myself crossing the finish line of the 21k category of run united 2 2012. on my feet. running and not walking. i envision myself to take advantage of all the effects of the training i am doing today. i envision myself wearing a finisher shirt and the finisher medal in my hands. i envision myself running at better pace than i have all my life. i am going to have the confidence in myself, my body and my training. i am going to give it my all.

by the way, i am able to do a spectacular layup against the opposition's best defender, i was able to steal the ball from the opposition's best point guard and i was able to block the shot of opposition's best scorer. well, back in the day, that is. ^_^