Do you know that Sports Anime teaches you how to combat your overthinking habits? #WorldMentalHealthDay2020
Have you ever watched any sports anime?
For me, it’s one of my favorite genres.
As I wrote this, I opened Myanimelist and tried to search how many animes that are labeled as ‘sports’ really is, turns out there are about 703 sports anime registered at the said website.
People said that sports anime is not fun to watch and mostly is filled with handsome men so that girls can fangirl all they want, and it’s very different from real sports because some have magical powers in it. I do agree with some of the points but honestly, the handsome men are just a bonus point (though I can’t lie that I do watch some because of the handsome men, to begin with).
However, the fun point, I beg to differ. Because, for me, there’s something enjoyable about watching sports anime.
I spent my adolescence and young adult days watching sports anime for almost 8 years now. It started in 2012 with Kuroko no Basket.
I remember picked it up because Izuki Shun resembles Roy Mustang a lot and ended up getting hooked with the show so, so much. After that, I began to watched and followed many recent sports anime series such as Haikyuu!, Ookiku Furikabutte, Ace of Diamond, Free!, Days, Yuri on Ice, and many others. I even began to follow Japan’s National High School Baseball Tournament twice a year (pre-corona) because turns out, watching sports anime and its real-life version is pretty fun and exciting.
Baseball is especially my favorite.
For all of you veteran sports anime watchers, you might notice many of the tropes in sports anime itself, like underdog school reaching for the Nationals or number one title in the country, or the powerhouse school trying to maintain their powerhouse status, or even an Olympics athlete trying to get over their slump and compete again. There’s even a trope retelling how a manager manages her baseball club with Peter Drucker’s Management Principle Book.
Different tropes mean different plots and stories to be told.
However, I always found one silver lining in every sports anime that I watched and this is something that I realized and conceptualized after I finished my bachelor's degree in Psychology.
Hi! My name is Andin, I worked as a content creator and part-time Mentor at an education startup that you can access their website here. I usually spent my leisure time analyzing animes that I watched, the lessons that implicitly or explicitly they want to convey, and wrote them down (and also posted them) for my own satisfaction.
Thus, #AnimesInReflects is born.
Today, to celebrate The World Mental Health Day 2020, I’m going to talk and discuss how Sports Anime taught me to be mindful and be present with the current moment.
Hope you enjoy (and want to pick up the animes that I recommended here!)
So if you are new to this whole sports anime thing, I’ll break it down for you. Sports anime is basically, an anime about sports. Sometimes it is mixed with other genres, like comedy, romance, but mostly is drama. You know, like Captain Tsubasa or Slam Dunk that you usually watched before the sun went down when you were little. So, it’s not really a new genre in the sports circle.
In Japan itself, it is seen as more than just a genre.
You probably have heard how Slam Dunk was the manga that introduced basketball to a generation of young people back then and how Haikyuu revived the volleyball club participatory in schools across Japan when it first serialized and when the anime first aired in 2014.
But for me, sports anime also teaches me a lesson regarding mental health.
How so?
Sports anime’s stories usually centered around many tournaments and matches, thus showcasing the creator’s love for the sport itself. Each tournament and match tell different stories. For example, in Haikyuu there’s a match titled the battle of concepts, which is basically a Growth Mindset vs Fixed Mindset battle that I already covered here. In another anime like Free, the reconciliation process of two estranged friends, Haru and Rin, was retelling during a relay match.
However in a silver lining of the matches, across all of the animes, they all have the same focus:
To win the current match that I am currently playing.
It’s a given and simple, right? I mean it’s a sports anime, of course, their main focus would be to win the match, what are other things to look forward to?
I also think that this would make sense if you play sports, you will try to focus on how to score the goal; to focus on how your hand would swing so your racquet would hit the shuttlecock flying to your side of the net, or how you would focus to receive the ball that is coming to you.
Why?
Easy. Because once you focus on the current match you are currently playing or as a sports anime watcher, watching how the characters focus and try to create a strategy on how to take back a score; it just made a lot of sense.
Of course in a match, Hinata Shouyo should focus on how to receive the spike. Of course, in a match, Sawamura Eijun should focus on throwing his fastball to the catchers’ mitt. Because that is what they are required to do as players in the field.
Notice the simplicity to focus on the situation they are in?
The next question is for you, especially if you have the tendency to overthink:
Have you ever try to focus on the current situation that you are in?
One of the stress-related problems that I came across as a part-time mentor at a startup company is overthinking. And coincidentally, it is also something that I frequently had.
Overthinking is, judging by its name, is an over-thinking. The process where you felt your brain is currently going and going, but you ended up with nothing to solve your problems. If there are any, its product could be anxious-related thoughts or worries.
For example, you kept thinking about how to meet deadlines for next week at work. You racked your brain about how troublesome it would be if your boss got mad at you, how you’d probably get into a huge fight with them about it, and how you might get fired; and that worries you. You ended up thinking or even drowning in those thoughts and worries, that maybe, you ended up didn’t work on the said deadlines because you were busy worrying about it.
That is overthinking.
Another something that I would like to point out that Overthinking usually is a process where you think about the inevitable future, about the what-ifs, about the worst-case scenario that might happen to you, even though you haven’t experienced it nor the time has not come yet.
Or, a process where you think about the regretful past while fully-knowing that you can’t do anything to change the said past. However, in the end, it’s the same as worrying about the future. You kept wondering the what-ifs, the regrets, and sometimes, got overwhelmed by the negative emotions about it.
I had mentees coming to me with different problems, past and future related overthinking, and the red string that I drew was:
Overthinking caused us to lose focus on the present, to precisely this minute, this second, this moment.
To complete the story of how overthinking really portrayed in a sports anime, I would like to introduce you to Sawamura Eijun from one of my all-time favorite sports anime series, Ace of Diamond.
Firstly I would like to issue a disclaimer: I do not play baseball. However, to bring this writing to life, I consulted with Rena, a friend of mine who used to play softball throughout high school, and she provided me with some insights that only a real player could do. She also read Ace of Diamond so naturally, she helped me wrote this.
For people who don’t play nor understand baseball, please do not worry. I attached a link to Wikipedia or website on every baseball lingos that I used in this article.
Oh and warning, spoilers ahead.
Long story short, Eijun is the main protagonist of this series and is often portrayed as a loud, cheerful, short-tempered, sometimes adorably idiot, pitcher. He’s the kind of guy who would do things first and think later.
Eijun’s main goal is to be The Ace of his high school baseball team, Seidou High. However, he is not the only one with the said goal. He had rivals inside the team, Furuya, an amazing pitcher with monstrous power and control, is one of them.
And for many episodes, Eijun tried his very best to prove to the team and coach that he is capable to become the ace.
However, an accident occurred.
At an important match during a very crucial moment where everyone had high expectations in him, Eijun performed badly. The breaking point was when his best and signature pitch, hit the opponent’s batter head, thus suddenly changing the game course. Seidou previously led the game and after that dead-ball incident, everything just seemed to went downhill.
During the time where Eijun needed to prove himself the most to the team and his coach, that Eijun too can change the game course in favor of Seidou again, Eijun was subbed out and Furuya replaced him in the pitcher’s mound.
It ended with his team losing the match and Eijun unconsciously blamed himself for it. While he vows that he would become better, Eijun began to notices how Furuya becoming even better than him as a pitcher and player, and that he might snatch the Ace position before him.
The thoughts of getting beaten by his own rival for the ace number put a heavy burden and immense pressure on Eijun when the offseason came. Coincidentally, his team received a chance to play a practice match with other schools during the offseason.
Eijun was sent out in the seventh inning and Eijun performed poorly again. It even led to the opponent hit a Homerun for Eijun’s best pitch. After that horrifying Homerun, Eijun throws bad pitches again as he gave consecutive walks and made the bases fully loaded.
His teammate told him to relax, to shrug off his tense shoulders, and just focus to throw the pitch. They told him not to worry whether his pitch will get hit or not because his teammates got his back.
But, all Eijun had in mind as a pitcher standing on the mound was, “I haven’t done anything to prove myself.”
As he throws his best and signature pitch to the catcher before it hit the fence, which basically gave a score to the opponent team in a silver plate.
After this match, Eijun then was diagnosed with yips, a mental-block-like condition where an athlete couldn’t perform the normal routine that they usually do. In Eijun’s case, he lost control of his best and signature pitch that was once his powerful weapon.
I know there are many baseball lingos, but bear with me. I beg of you.
In Eijun’s case, as I retell it, there are several things that I would like to point out that Eijun basically wasn’t present as he stood in the mound as a pitcher.
To summarize, here are several experiences that I wrote earlier, that I believe drove Eijun to develop an overthinking behavior:
- Eijun tried to fulfill and answer the expectations that the team and coach gave him without knowing why and how.
- The dead-ball incident from the previous match where Eijun felt like he failed the team during the most crucial moment.
- Furuya who grew stronger than Eijun day by day and might snatch the Ace position.
- The opponent’s Homerun during the practice match after he hit Eijun’s best and signature pitch.
- The consecutive walks and bases loaded during the same practice match and inning, that just added even more pressure to Eijun.
- The sudden realization that he hasn’t done anything to prove himself.
- When his best and signature pitch hit the fence during the practice match.
Eventually, the stressful and negative events that he experienced began to culminate, which resulted in Eijun began to overthink and doubting himself as a player. Eijun’s overthinking made him became absent at the present moment, which resulted in him performing poorly, thus ended with him having the yips.
Now, it is safe to say that my knowledge about yips was only provided by countless baseball psychology and therapy articles, academic journals, and online diaries from athletes and sports therapists, I do not perform the research nor experience yips myself. So, to test how overthinking also played in Eijun’s yips, I consulted with Rena.
I asked her about the real-life experiences of playing baseball/softball and how overthinking could trigger bad performance from athletes. Rena then proceeds to tell the story that as a softball player, she had numerous counters with overthinking, low self-esteem, and how it affected her performance as a player.
Rena even stated that she completely found herself relating to Eijun’s overthinking and eventual yips arc.
Sometimes, instead of being present and focus, all Rena could think as she stood as a player on the batter box was, “Will I be able to hit this ball?”; “Will I able to send the runners home?”; “What if I threw this ball and it’ll hit the catcher again?” and other mindless, worry thoughts. Her coach even told her to ease her habit of overthinking because it affected her performance.
However, Rena also said that other factors may also contribute to her overthinking habits back then, but she knew one thing:
“I think if I was more mindful, being present, and have confidence in myself, I would not overthink that much as a player.”
Being present and mindful is one of the ways to combat anxiety and overthinking that most mental health professionals would recommend. When you feel detached from the present time, to combat the detached feeling would be to drag yourself back to the present.
Amazingly, this is also how Eijun finally overcame his overthinking and yips.
During the first season and first half of the second season, all he thought was how to answer his team and his coach’s expectations to be an Ace. He kept comparing himself to Furuya as his rival who kept becoming stronger and stronger, kept regretting the dead-ball incident, and also the failure to answer those expectations that were bestowed upon him.
Eijun was focusing on things that he could not and has no control.
During the second half and all the way throughout the third season, Eijun began to focus to develop his new weapons, seeking advice from his catcher, teammates, mentors, coaches, and even rivals; for the sake of improving himself into a better pitcher. When his team met another lost, Eijun does feel frustrated about it, however, it didn’t let him feel dejected. Eijun then vowed to himself to let the defeat as a lesson that he could learn from.
He went back and practiced even more. He listened to feedback and actively asked for ones. By the end of the third season, Eijun showed more growth and development than any other pitchers in Seidou.
Eijun finally realized that the answer on how to answer the said expectations is to focus on polishing his current skills and potentials; to learn everything that he could, mistakes too; and simply try his very best so that he can answer those expectations.
Eijun learned to be mindful and present for the current moment and implemented that mindset.
Eijun taught me that when you try to really focus on things that you can control and just be present at the moment; instead of worrying about the future or regretting the past because it’ll help you to regain focus and combat your overthinking habits.
So, let’s pop the big question: How do you actually combat your overthinking habits?
There are several ways to combat your overthinking habits in my opinion and I would like to share some that worked for me and my other mentees. Another disclaimer, some may work for you and some may not.
It’s totally normal.
1. Challenge your negative thoughts!
This is something that I recently learned from my part-time job. My psychologist mentor told me that sometimes, our negative thoughts are the ones we perceived for ourselves. And sadly, we succumbed easily to it because we feel that those negative thoughts were true. As humans, we usually draw conclusions from feelings, rather than facts. This usually happened with people with low self-esteem.
So, this one made you challenge your negative thoughts with rationality.
For example, let’s say you kept thinking, “I have a bad impression on people, so that’s why everyone I know hated me.”
The challenge question to counter the negative thoughts, at least one of it that popped in my mind, would be: how can you be 100% sure everyone you knew, hated you?
2. Write your worries down!
This is one of the techniques that I really liked because it worked for me when overcoming my overthinking habits.
I usually say to my mentees that overthinking sometimes turned your brain into a one, huge, mushy, full-packed, and overflowing piece of meat with nervous systems. You can sometimes feel like too many thoughts are happening all at once and you have no idea what is running through your head.
Our mind is also an abstract thing so it is exceptionally hard to think about what you are thinking, without any solid evidence.
So, one of the solutions is: solidifying your thoughts by writing them down.
By writing them down, you are also feeling those emotions, letting it all out, and solidifying the said evidence of what you’re thinking in the piece of paper. If done right, you might see that your mind is not as packed as you might think.
Overthinking might felt like our mind suddenly enlarged into a giant hole and that it is filled with many, many things that contribute to why we feel anxious and worry. However, usually, when we tried to wrote it down, most of the time came out as something of a dysfunctional loop. Valid, but dysfunctional and endless loop.
So to conclude, the problems, the negative thoughts, and overthinking that you might have, usually have a one, single root.
3. Practice Mindfulness
Lastly, the most famous technique of meditation to ease your overthinking; Mindfulness.
Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of what we are and what we are doing, and not overly reactive and overwhelmed by what’s going on all around us. Sometimes, being reactive and overwhelmed is one of the triggers to feel anxious and overthink, and we don’t have to respond to everything happening around us the moment it happened.
As a Mindfulness coach that I used to interact back at my former office used to say, “accept and acknowledge the thoughts, however, do not engage it immediately”.
One of the techniques that I like to use for Mindfulness is the grounding technique. Grounding is a technique where it physically made you be present at the moment. Its techniques have ranges; from breathing techniques, body awareness, and mental exercise. My favorite one is body awareness, where I hold and really feel the thing that I am holding.
As I feel the hardwood of my table, it forcefully brought my mind back to the present day.
Eijun, however, had a habit and routine of practicing Mindfulness too.
He was portrayed practicing one of the grounding techniques, specifically the breathing techniques. Every time before he started pitching, Eijun would stand on the mound, stretch his arms open, breathing in a steady and calming manner, before shouting loudly about how he’ll trust his teammates and letting the balls flew to the fielders’ direction.
Other popular sports anime also portrayed some form of Mindfulness. For example, Hinata Shoyo from Haikyuu described how his fingertips felt the ball that he touched, how he observed his surrounded areas once he feels overwhelmed, and even portrayed learning meditation to improve his concentration at the time-skip arc.
Onoda Sakamichi from Yowamushi Pedal! cycled through the mountains trail during competition while singing his favorite anime song, keeping himself (and eventually, the rest of Sohoku team) from worrying about other things and just keep on pedaling his bike.
Like I explained at the beginning, to learn how to adapt the mindful and being present ala Sports Anime is to think about how to win this match I’m playing now. Which translates to:
Be present at this minute, this second, and this exact moment.
Once you’re present during this current moment, you can try to focus on things that you can do and can control, instead of things that you are worried about. By practicing the ways to combat your overthinking behavior, slowly but surely, you’ll develop a ‘brake’. This ‘brake’, as I would like to say it, will help you to notice once your thoughts began to develop into overthinking. Because you began to notice and learn that your overthinking habits have a usual pattern that you can break down.
This usually how my ‘brake’ process usually goes:
“Why can I never be as awesome as her who passed the graduate school entrance exams? I could never pass that entrance exam and I would be living like this forever.
Oh, wait. I am now thinking about future anxieties. I think this is because I recently came across a friend’s Instagram post who succeeded in entering graduate school and I suddenly feel inferior to them.
It’s normal for me to feel this way but I shouldn’t dwell longer because it’ll just drag my self-esteem.
It’s okay.
Breathe in, breathe out.
I’m doing okay.”
I began by noticing the negative thoughts inside my head. Later, I tried to accepted and acknowledged the inferiority feeling that I was currently feeling. After accepting and acknowledging the feeling, I continued to calm myself down or try to look for ways to return to the present, like the body awareness technique.
I would like to address that it took me about 4 years to develop this ‘brake’ and I am still learning to practice this too!
And I can say that the road to being fully present might seemed to be a new path and there could be challenges that you might face.
It’s totally normal to face hardships on the new road, after all, you’re learning, right? It’s the equivalent of walking on a new road that you have no idea what it looked like in the middle of the night.
You might see speed bump here and there, but eventually, with the help of a lighter, you can see the road and bumps clearer. I hope this article could serve as your lighter as you navigate through the road.
Besides, it also took Eijun two and a half-season to fully realize and implement this mindset in his mind, so it’s okay.
Take it easy, baby steps. You’re doing great.
If Eijun can do it, I’m sure you can do it too.
So, what are you waiting for?
Go watch Sports Anime and I’m sure you will not regret it. There are tons of other lessons that you can pick from watching sports anime series aside from teaching you the importance of being present and mindful of situations.
This has been #AnimesInReflects in order to celebrate #WorldMentalHealthDay2020. Hope you enjoy the 4.1k essay that I wrote!
I hope you’re taking care of yourself well, both physically and mentally, during this pandemic ❤ ❤
Don’t forget that your mental health also matters.
Quick question, how did you overcome your overthinking habits?
Make sure to comment below!
Stay healthy and stay safe!
Andin.
