WODdoc Episode 326 Project365: Little Wins; Featuring Kristine Andali

May 25, 2015 12:24 am

I large part of this sport is physical… No one can argue that. Often forgotten is the metal side of things. The pressures of competition are also part of the game and just like our physical capacity our psychological capacity also has bounties. But what happens when things go wrong that are not in our control. How do you tackle them and avoid being overwhelmed

Today, I had the pleasure of meeting Kristine Andali. This girl is a super stud from up north there in the maple leaf states. Last year she placed 3rd in her region. Which in many regions earns you a trip to Carson. Unfortunately for her Canada East only took top 2 last year to the Games. That amount of heartache is enough to break some athletes. Not her, she used that experience to fuel her fire completing the 2015 open in 4th place. Then catastrophe… during her training, 5 weeks before competing in Superregionals she suffered a complete achilles rupture. An injury that takes the better part of a year to return from. Kristine and I sat down and talked today about how how athletes can approach unforeseeable situations such as this.

An interesting side note if you watch the video closely you will see that Kristine displays in her story many of the Kübler-Ross model – five stages of grief. Take a look below:

Denial — One of the first reactions is Denial, wherein the survivor imagines a false, preferable reality.
Anger — When the individual recognizes that denial cannot continue, it becomes frustrated, especially at proximate individuals. Certain psychological responses of a person undergoing this phase would be: “Why me? It’s not fair!”; “How can this happen to me?”; ‘”Who is to blame?”; “Why would God let this happen?”.
Bargaining — The third stage involves the hope that the individual can avoid a cause of grief. Usually, the negotiation for an extended life is made with a higher power in exchange for a reformed lifestyle. Other times, they will use anything valuable against another human agency to extend or prolong the life. People facing less serious trauma can bargain or seek compromise.
Depression — “I’m so sad, why bother with anything?”; “I’m going to die soon so what’s the point?”; “I miss my loved one, why go on?”
During the fourth stage, the individual becomes saddened by the certainty of death. In this state, the individual may become silent, refuse visitors and spend much of the time mournful and sullen.
Acceptance — “It’s going to be okay.”; “I can’t fight it, I may as well prepare for it.”
In this last stage, individuals embrace mortality or inevitable future, or that of a loved one, or other tragic event. People dying may precede the survivors in this state, which typically comes with a calm, retrospective view for the individual, and a stable condition of emotions.