I've joined an archery league. This ends the first week. I shot a terrible, low score. Not the lowest, but, near the bottom. What happened?

The format of this league to shoot twenty five arrows. A bullseye is worth 10 points, a vitals shot is worth 8 points and a body shot is worth 5 points. A miss scores zero. The maximum score is 250 points. The winner this week scored 211. I won't even give my score.

I stood on the range and doubts filled my mind. Thoughts like, "I don't belong here." and "I'm not as good as the others." Weird.

At the first scene I had trouble pulling back my bow. The arrow came off the rest. I struggled to get it back on and when I let it fly it missed low. Sinking feeling. It's as if my doubt doomed my performance. How often does that happen? How much is one's performance affected by one's attitude. It is an interesting study.

I'm interested in toughening myself mentally and learning to compete in this new setting. What will it take? I'll find out.........
9:52:46 PM    comment []