Q & A WITH DR. MITCHELL GREENE Q: Dear Dr. Greene, My greatest weakness is self-confidence.


I’m nervous to participate in a multisport event because I don’t have a lot of confidence. Do you have any advice for me so I can feel better about participating?


-Danny (age 14)


A: Danny, Your question reminds me of the time I found myself staring down a very steep ski run. I waited and waited for confidence to arrive, but it never came. Instead of trying so hard to feel positive, it turns out I needed something else to help me get down the mountain. Want to take a guess what it was? It took something called willingness. By willingness,


30 USA TRIATHLON YOUTH GUIDE


I mean understanding that being scared isn’t something I needed to fight – but rather something I needed to accept. Once I learned to accept the nervousness, I stopped struggling to feel confident. Having realized that it was okay to have my doubts about whether I could get down the mountain in one piece, something interesting happened. I started to think of a plan to slowly make my way down the steep slope. Here’s the secret, though: Turns out the next time I skied that steep mogul run (I wanted to ski it without falling so much the second time), I actually had some confidence doing it. That’s because confidence comes after you try something – and usually not before.


So, if you haven’t ever entered a


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