The Yips
The Yips, in sports, is a sudden loss in an experienced athlete’s ability to perform certain skills. Think the professional golfer that can no longer putt, the tennis pro that can’t hit a serve. In popular culture, the yips were the subject of a Ted Lasso episode during season 2 when talented player, Dani Rojas, fumbles a penalty kick and the team goes on to have a long season of tied games. When he finally has a chance at redemption with the opportunity to kick a game winning goal, he accidentally kills the team’s dog mascot when the dog runs onto the field and blocks the kick! A more serious, real life example would be Simone Biles at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Biles experienced the gymnast’s version of the yips during her vault routine, “the twisties.” The twisties are a phenomenon whereby gymnasts can no longer locate where they are in the air making it difficult to safely land. Biles ended up making the brave decision to pull out of her next four events. The point is that the yips can affect even those at the very top of their sports.
But the “Yips” don’t just happen to professional athletes. The rest of us experience our own versions during those seasons of life when we forget who we’ve been or what we’re capable of and start thinking of ourselves as the person who is__________ (not confident, not good at, not able to….). That image starts to replace the image and memory of the person we actually are.
I’ve been dealing with the “yips” in an area of my life for the past year and a half. And, recently, I had a breakthrough. My partner painted the picture for me of who I was (and still am). He helped me remember the things I used to do and say, the actions I would take, the way I showed up. What amazed me was much how I had forgotten. I had gotten so used to thinking of myself a certain way that I had become convinced that the “yips” version of me was the real me. It became the easy place to go. It felt safer. The breakthrough seemed so simple and obvious but I realized that every time I’d attempted to make a change or find a solution, I was always coming from the place of something being wrong with me, rather than rediscovering the version of who I actually am. I needed help turning the key in the lock.
Who in your life can help you paint the picture of who you really are? The picture of you when you were_________ (your most vibrant, capable, authentic, etc). What did you do? How did you show up? What were things you said?
What would you be doing differently if you were living your life and thinking of yourself in that way?
I don’t think there’s a single antidote or want to suggest that the yips are an easy thing to overcome. From my own experience, I know they aren’t. I think that journey is individualized and requires different things for different people (therapy, coaching, time off, etc). But what I hope I’ve offered you here is a way to see a subtle opening in a door that feels shut and to remind you that you are still you. Just like Simone Biles was/is one of the greatest gymnasts of all time, just like the pro golfer actually does know how to putt, you were and still are the person that is capable, confident, worthy, vibrant, enough.
The “yips” version of you is not the real you.
