How “Figuring It Out” Keeps You Stuck

I’ve been training the sport of trampoline for over a decade. It’s a fun way to mix up my routine, learn new skills, and practice my coordination physical coordination.

Typically, trampoline bouncing involves the whole body. As I bounce up off the trampoline bed, I bring my arms overhead; as I depress the bed, my arms come by my sides. When I do a trick like a summersault, I set with my arms overhead.

This is how I’ve trained for over a decade: coordinating the arms with the bouncing.

Even though the arms are involved, the feet and legs should drive the bounce. My coach is always reminding me to “push through my toes.”

Yesterday, I tried a new drill: a no-arms back summersault.

The idea was to do a back summersault with my arms folded across my chest, as a way to force myself to initiate with my legs.

My mind couldn’t figure out I could bounce and do a back summersault without taking my arms overhead. I couldn’t get an image in my mind of how this would work.

Because I couldn’t figure it out in my head, my body started to send signals of fear.

Rationally, I had no reason to fear:

• I was wearing a harness and safety lines.
• I trusted my coach.
• I had also just watched my friend do the same drill safely.

But the signals that produce the fear response don’t react to rationality.

My coach acknowledged that it was scary: it was something I had never done before.

Trying to “Figure it Out” Keeps You Stuck

My body responded with fear because my mind couldn’t figure out how it would work — even though I had just watched my friend do the same exact drill.

Here’s what I knew:

As long as I would stand on the trampoline bed trying to figure out “how this is going to work,” my body would be stuck in fear.

How to Loosen the Grip of Fear

The only way to remove the fear was to start moving into action.

I started by doing some bounces with my arms crossed over my chest, just to prove to myself that I could bounce that way.

Then I did a back summersault. It was tentative, but landed safely.

I tried a few more, with each one better and more confident than the previous.

With each experience of landing safely, the fear sensations subsided.

Here’s the thing: even after doing a handful of reps, my mind still didn’t quite get how it was happening. (Although, in fairness, it doesn’t fully understand how the back summersault happens even when I do use my arms.)

And that’s the point: the mind doesn’t need to understand.

Move With the Fear

The longer you try to “figure it out” in the mind, the longer you’ll remain stuck at the starting line.

The way to loosen the grip of fear is not through the mind, but through the body: move with the fear into action, see that you are safe, and repeat.