Feature story: Joy directly linked to strength and resilience
Inspired by athlete Cecilia Mattas, you can check out her athlete interview here.
Read time 3 minutes
By Michelle Bates, Editor Trailrunningthings.com
With a quick Google search on ‘joy linked to resilience’ you will be served with a lot of Brene Brown style wisdom.
I have never done an ultra, never more than a marathon distance yet. My mind boggles at how humans can go so far. Witnessing Cecilia so joyful, while running up the kind of elevation that makes me puffed just thinking about, was something that sparked my curiosity. How is she so joyful in the middle of doing something so hard?
When we face trouble, difficulties or hard times, it is hard to remain positive and joyous. Cecilia’s joy, whilst doing such incredibly brutal feats, taught me a life-long lesson. If you can seek out and cultivate your joy in the hardest of times, that is a serious life unlock code. I have since been quietly seeking my joy when times are hard. It changes my experience, and changes others' experience of me. Sure, it isn’t easy, and this will be something I need to practice and remind myself over and over. But I am trying.
I heard a line on a podcast the same week that I noticed Cecilia's joy coming up that mountain. “If you don’t have joy, you will lose your strength. On the other side of every setback is a new opportunity. If you are waiting for a dream to come to pass, you will be tempted to get discouraged, and give up. Your joy is what will keep standing strong. You could go through it negative, discouraged, bitter, but you’re not going to have the strength to fight.”
Another ultra moment that has stayed with me was when I witnessed Sydney sider Harry Morton about 80km into his Buffalo Stampede 100km race last year. I can’t remember the exact details of what was said by who, but someone, either his beautiful wife who had somehow found him hot chips in the middle of nowhere, or one of his fellow Viper Run Club friends prompted him to say his goals for the race out loud. He said “to be the happiest person on course.” That stopped me in my tracks, and made a big impact on me that I would then carry forward in my mindset. I put it in my pocket. Thanks Haz, you legend.
I am not a naturally positive person. It feels like a lift for me to be ‘sparkly’. You know what, I actually am a positive person, I always see the upside of any situation, likely a means of self preservation. I think the part I struggle with is finding the joy in the middle of hard things. Cecilia and Harry have this nailed. Here is a little something I found on the science of smiling in sport performance;
The Effects of Smiling and Frowning on Perceived Affect and Exertion While Physically Active
(Source: Philipp B. Philippen, Frank C Bakken, R. Cañal-Bruland)
Smiling helps reduce stress-induced hormones in the bloodstream, which helps avoid adrenal fatigue. Smiling enhances positive emotions.
Smiling triggers the release of endorphins, serotonin, and dopamine.
Smiling has been found to reduce perceived effort and exertion pain.
I have set myself a challenge to smile more. I have started smiling at strangers in my day to day to practice. Cue psycho memes. I have been collecting smiles like a game of Pokémon Go. The nicest part of this practice is that my act of smiling at people mostly receives a smile back. Maybe I am more sparkly than I thought. Maybe I will never really feel super sparkly, but I am more of a razzle dazzle kind of operator, able to sprinkle it here and there. However you are coded, we can all practice. The cool science part is that your body will catch up.
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