become the first British woman to win the Commonwealth title<\/a>, had spent the previous week reading stories about her opponent. All the stats, quotes and headlines only fueled her fears, leading her to imagine the worst: What if my legs give out or my arms don\u2019t work?<\/p>\nPhysically, she felt so horrible that her mind started to believe those thoughts, no matter how ridiculous they sound in hindsight. By the time she walked into the arena, she was terrified.<\/p>\n
Not surprisingly, she lost the fight.<\/p>\n
Later that day, she watched footage of the fight, and it wasn\u2019t until that moment, when she saw herself on screen, that she finally saw what happened to her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI realized I boxed small,\u201d Copeland said. \u201cI boxed while being really fearful of her rather than doing my best. I was really, really disappointed in myself in a completely different way than how you would be if you\u2019d given it your best and you lost.\u201d<\/p>\n
That moment sparked something within Copeland. She knew how to improve her boxing skills. But she needed to understand why fear had such a grip on her and how she could stop it from ruining her hard work.<\/p>\n
In the years that followed, Copeland began to study fear. She read books, spoke to others, mentored younger fighters and became an advocate, openly sharing her experiences and best practices.<\/p>\n
Boxing is a particularly effective sport for discussing how to deal with fear.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour brain should try and talk you out of fighting another human being and getting punched in the head,\u201d Copeland said. \u201cThat\u2019s the right thing for your brain to do, but, obviously, you just have to control it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here are her three most effective methods for dealing with fear:<\/p>\n
Put it in the trunk<\/p>\n
When Copeland was spiraling, she didn\u2019t realize how her thoughts were hurting her. She was in a fight-or-flight mode, and her mind was doing its best to protect her. That doesn\u2019t mean those thoughts were helpful.<\/p>\n
Once she realized that she could accept her thoughts as unhelpful, it allowed her to devise a trick: She started to visualize picking each thought and throwing it in the trunk of a car. Then, in her head, she parked the car, locked it and walked away.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I was starting to allow them to drive, no, they have to get in the back,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
You can\u2019t get rid of bad thoughts. But you can recognize them for what they are, pack them away and replace them with new ones.<\/p>\n
The take-away method<\/p>\n
Later on, Copeland began mentoring younger fighters. Before a big fight, she noticed one of them shaking and hyperventilating. She knew what was happening: Fear was taking over. The fighter explained that she didn\u2019t want to step into the ring.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ll be fine once you get in there,\u201d Copeland told her. \u201cYou\u2019ve worked hard for this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nothing fixed it. A few minutes later, another coach walked in to check on everyone, and Copeland pulled her aside to explain the situation.<\/p>\n
Without hesitating, the coach walked over to the young fighter and asked if she no longer wanted to box. When the fighter said no, the coach told her that it was fine; that she would let everyone know. There were loads of people who would love this opportunity, and she didn\u2019t want to force anyone to do something they didn\u2019t want to do.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo problem,\u201d the coach said and walked away.<\/p>\n
Copeland was baffled. About 30 seconds went by before the fighter got up and pleaded to fight. When Copeland went to tell the other coach, she found her waiting on the other side of the door, ready for this moment that she knew would happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs she ready to fight now?\u201d the coach smiled.<\/p>\n
These days, Copeland uses that strategy herself. She calls it \u201cthe take-away method.\u201d If she is nervous, she thinks, \u201cWould you want this opportunity taken away from you right now?\u201d<\/p>\n
If the answer is yes, she knows she either isn\u2019t ready or this isn\u2019t the right time for her. But if the answer is no, it\u2019s a comforting reminder that she is experiencing healthy and perhaps even productive nerves as she prepares for something she cares deeply about.<\/p>\n
Remember your why<\/p>\n
When Copeland was getting ready to fight for the Commonwealth title in Zimbabwe, a championship match that symbolizes elite status for fighters from Commonwealth nations, she felt the same, familiar feelings kick in.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike electricity going through every cell and vein in my body,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She also had some of the same thoughts: What if my legs and arms don\u2019t work? She tried to snap out of it with her two tactics \u2014 the trunk visualization and the take-away method \u2014 but neither worked. Not even a little bit.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat the f\u2014 am I doing?\u201d she said to herself. \u201cWhy am I even here? What is the point of fighting this scary woman who wants to punch my head in?\u201d<\/p>\n
The more she went back and forth with herself, the real \u201cwhy\u201d came to the surface: her 11-year-old self.<\/p>\n
Copeland\u2019s father and grandfather were both boxers, and she enjoyed training as a child. The Amateur Boxing Association (now England Boxing) didn\u2019t lift its ban on women\u2019s boxing until 1996.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat little girl, when I was 11 and I was told I wasn\u2019t allowed to box,\u201d Copeland said, \u201cshe\u2019d have given anything \u2014 anything to be in this position.\u201d<\/p>\n
That one thought began to fuel her.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow dare you,\u201d she said to herself. \u201cHow dare you s\u2014 yourself now and panic instead of giving your absolute best for that little girl who would give anything to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Deep down, Copeland wanted to challenge herself. She loved challenges. It\u2019s one of the reasons she fell in love with fighting. She should want to put herself against the best in the world to test herself.<\/p>\n
She won the title and discovered a new tactic. By simply remembering her purpose, she drove away fear and replaced it with strength.<\/p>\n
In that moment, she understood: Fear was only as intense as she allowed it to be.<\/p>\n
(Photo by Sportsfile \/ Corbis\/Sportsfile via Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was the biggest fight of Stacey Copeland\u2019s professional life up to that point, and she couldn\u2019t stop…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":148094,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,4963,15885,82,575],"class_list":["post-148093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-olympics","tag-peak","tag-sports","tag-sports-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}