Face Your Fight
As we reach the final week of our Joyful January campaign, we hope you’re feeling inspired, encouraged and a little more confident about the year ahead.
We’ve spent the month exploring our Four Corners coaching method and last – but definitely not least – we arrive at the Opponents Corner.
By now, you’ve hopefully picked up some practical tools to help reframe January and start the year as you mean to go on. We’ve looked at how to care for our physical selves and understand our emotions better in the Doctor’s Corner.
We’ve explored who’s on our support team in the Home Corner and clarified our values (the ‘rules’ we choose to live by) in the Referee’s Corner.
But even with all this self-knowledge and the best intentions in the world, there’s still one thing that can trip us up: ourselves! That’s where the Opponents Corner comes in.
Mindset is everything
Our toughest opponent is often the voice in our own head. We all carry beliefs about ourselves, other people and the world, and not all of them are helpful.
These beliefs can quietly shape how we behave and what we think is (or isn’t) possible. You might believe you’re ‘bad at schoolwork,’ that you’ll ‘never be confident,’ or that everyone else looks better, does better or has it easier than you. You might assume friends are judging you, teachers don’t believe in you, or that one mistake defines who you are.
Pause for a moment and ask yourself:
Are these beliefs 100% true?
Where did they come from?
And most importantly, are they helping you or holding you back?
Reframing doesn’t mean pretending everything is perfect. It means offering yourself a fairer, kinder interpretation. ‘I’m bad at maths’ can become ‘I find maths challenging right now, but I’m learning.’ ‘No one likes me’ can shift to ‘I haven’t found my people yet.’ Small changes in our inner language can create big shifts in confidence.
Respond, don’t react
Another way we can get in our own way is through how we react emotionally. When something triggers us, e.g anger, frustration, embarrassment, it’s easy to lash out, shut down or do something we later regret. This is where the Doctor’s Corner becomes really useful. Instead of reacting automatically, try responding with awareness.
Ask yourself:
What am I feeling right now?
Where is this emotion sitting in my body?
Is it tight shoulders, a knotted stomach, a racing heart?
Once you’ve identified the feeling, ask: What do I need in this moment? Maybe it’s movement – going for a walk, shaking it out, doing some exercise, hitting the punchbag. Maybe it’s expression -writing things down, doodling, listening to music. Or maybe it’s space – taking a break, stepping away, breathing. Responding rather than reacting gives you back control. It turns emotions into information, rather than something that runs the show.
Break the habit
The Opponents Corner is also about noticing small acts of self-sabotage. These aren’t dramatic, but they add up. You might want to eat more healthily but keep buying the same snacks. You might compare yourself to others on social media, even though you know it makes you feel worse. Or you might let one comment, one mistake or one person put you in a bad mood for the entire day.
The question isn’t, ‘Why am I like this?’ but ‘What could I do differently instead?’ Could you swap one habit for another: putting your phone down and doing else, having one healthier option, or choosing to reset your mood rather than carry it around? Facing your fight doesn’t mean being hard on yourself. It means being honest, curious and kind to yourself. When you recognise your inner opponent, you’re no longer powerless against it – and that’s a powerful way to start the year.
Fun exercise
Take on your ANTs! (Automatic Negative Thoughts)
We hope you have enjoyed this blog series, connecting the four corners of a boxing ring to practical tools you can use to improve your wellbeing in bite-sized, manageable chunks.