In 2013 the Lakers faced the Golden State Warriors at the LA Staples Center when legendary shooting guard Kobe Bryant drove past Harrison Barnes in the last few minutes of what would be a tight win in a tense game. Kobe went to drive, a move he had made millions of times, and almost immediately went down clutching his left ankle. He tore his Achilles. He’s quoted saying he tried to “pull it back up” so he could play the remaining two minutes of the game, but there was no way. He was done for the game. He was done for the season. Nevertheless, in true Kobe Bryant style, he hobbled back out onto the court and sunk two clutch free throws before heading into the locker room. The Lakers won the game 118-116. Kobe hobbling back onto the court and shooting those two shots despite the pain of his injury is the perfect example of what most athletes think of when they hear the phrase “push through the pain.”
Kobe isn’t the only athlete to play through an injury. Michael Jordan had his infamous “flu game” in 1997 where he scored 38 points during game five of the NBA Finals. Elena Delle Donne of the Washington Mystics continued to play with a herniated disk in game five of the 2019 WNBA Finals. Even Tiger Woods won the 2008 U.S. Open with a broken leg and torn ACL. From golf legends to basketball all-stars, the ability to push through pain seems to be the peak example of what it means to be a tough athlete.
While this mentality may seem like a noble way to approach the game, pushing through the pain can often lead to more problems down the road. Playing through injury can result in needing more time before returning to play. It can cause more severe injuries and reinforces the habit of not knowing when enough is enough. You lose your gauge for pain. This issue is only further exacerbated when applied to the mental side of the game. Physically, your body may feel great. You’re well-rested, refreshed, and ready to grind, but mentally you’re feeling bogged down and groggy, and there’s a lack of motivation to get out onto the floor. This happened to me after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
No one really prepares you for the aftershock of finishing the Olympics. You hear about the journey getting there and the experience during the Games, but no one tells you how hard it is to get back to your sport after having completed this great feat. You’re re-evaluating your reason for playing. You’re setting goals all over again. You’re asking yourself what’s your “why.” All of this combined with the feeling of burnout from competing in such an intense atmosphere is the perfect brain soup for a good old-fashioned meltdown. But in my case, there was no time for a meltdown. My professional season was starting up, I was training again, and I was getting back on the court soon. It was time for me to do what athletes are taught to do best and that’s “push through the pain” of feeling burnt out. I had to find a way to play my very best once again.
Except I didn’t. I struggled. I spent more nights lying in bed wondering where my motivation went than anything else. I had no desire to play let alone play my best. This went on for months. I was tired and depressed and had no fight in me. There was no energy or fire in my play either. My mental struggle translated to my physical play and I was a mess on the court, playing with zero passion and training with even less. My heart wasn’t in it. But that was okay.
I know. It sounds absolutely bonkers to say I didn’t care about my sport at all and that’s okay. To ignore that little voice in our head that tells us to push through the pain seems ludicrous, but sometimes in the game of life you’re just not mentally okay and there is nothing wrong with that.
A number of things can make your mental health fall off—grief, loss, disappointment, not getting the roster spot you wanted, or having to come back from an operation or surgery, for example. Your mental health might also be affected by biology—hormones, brain chemistry, a lack of sleep, too much sleep, too much caffeine, etc. There are tons of factors that influence the health of our minds. Whatever the reason may be, the bottom line is that sometimes our brains just need a break.
Mental health, like any physical injury, needs time to heal. Just like Kobe Bryant couldn’t bounce back immediately after he tore his Achilles, it’s really hard to jump back into play when our brains have tweaked ankles of their own. When struggling with mental health, the best way to bounce back is to treat it like any other injury.
First, accept that you’re injured. It’s a lot easier to face the fact that your knee is tweaked because your body sends pain receptors to your brain. With a mental injury, there are no real pain receptors but the principle is the same. Your mind is hurting and you need some time to heal. The best thing you can do for yourself is to accept that.
That takes work. There has to be an understanding of your mind and knowing the difference between feeling mentally fatigued and burnt to a crisp. During a match, for example, it’s easy to get frazzled after a mistake or a tough loss. Knowing yourself helps you understand that that mindset is a byproduct of the game and not necessarily your brain and heart not being in it. The secret really is knowing how your mind affects your heart. If your mental state is depreciated enough to take your heart out of the game, that’s when you can accept that maybe you need a mental break.
That’s when you should ask for help. As athletes, we’re usually very independent, and asking for help can be out of our comfort zone. But if you can recognize that you’re not okay, you can take the next step and ask for some help. Reach out to your teammates. Reach out to your coaches. If your team has a sports psychologist, they are great resources. Get in touch with a mentor. Find yourself a good therapist. Even a call to mom and dad can be rejuvenating. When your brain is down in the dumps now is the time to reach out to your support system. That starts with being able to give yourself some grace and love and recognize that you’re not okay and that’s okay.
As athletes, it’s hard to not succumb to the “push through the pain” mentality, but sometimes that can hurt more than it helps. The most mature move you can make as an athlete is to be in touch with yourself, acknowledge that you need help mentally, and do the vulnerable thing of reaching out. Having a recovery plan for a mental injury is just as important as having a recovery plan for a physical injury. Injuries happen, sometimes you do a move that you’ve done millions of times, and that one time is when your body gives out. Sometimes you grind and work hard for months and that next moment to overcome, adapt, or adjust is the breaking point. That’s okay. Give yourself some grace. Give yourself some love. Nothing lasts forever, and any setback can always become a comeback.
