More sports and metal health this week.
Kim Carducci's debut book, The I of the Tiger, goes into depth about the mental health aspect of being a top performing athlete and offers ways athletes can manage their minds.
“I was nothing and no one without sports,” writes Kimberly Carducci in her debut book, The I of the Tiger: The Athlete Identity and Remedying Sport’s Greatest Conflicts. Carducci continues, “For the first time since I was five years old, it felt as if gravity, the commonality that kept all beings rooted on Earth, suddenly stopped and I had no idea what was up, down, or sideways."
Carducci joins Rick on iHeartRadio this past weekend for a fascinating talk.
Carducci was able to rise above her darkest moments after retiring as a D1 swimmer at the University of North Carolina but many top sports competitors don’t. In The I of the Tiger, Carducci uncovers the many layers, fears, insecurities, and complexities the athlete identity produces. She offers insights on how this identity negatively impacts mental health and ways athletes can navigate pivotal transitions.
“When life hits us hardest, it’s important to understand the biological and psychological effects of pain to shed light on how we can best process our emotions.” offers Carducci. “With this understanding, we can move past the shock of a situation, grow stronger with a refreshed identity, and adopt a framework for life that encourages strength, clarity and light.”
Kim Carducci’s deftly written book combines heart-felt personal anecdotes with references to a number of historical and prominent athlete figures in our world today, such as Tonya Harding and Michael Phelps aimed at discovering:
⦁ How competition influences athletes and their mental health
⦁ Why athletes build an inflated sense of ego based on physical capabilities
⦁ How injury and retirement deflate athlete’s sense of worth
⦁ Daily implications of being a fierce competitor
⦁ Daily guiding principles for athletes on their transition journey
⦁ The art of letting go of things athletes once leaned on that wasn’t sturdy enough to support them beyond sports
The I of the Tiger: The Athlete Identity and Remedying Sport’s Greatest Conflicts is available September 21, 2021 everywhere books are sold. Learn more at www.everythingathletes.com.