Finding perspective inside a roller coaster

A few months back, I went on a roller coaster ride of sorts. It had been ages since I had been on one, and I was scared out of my wits waiting for it to end.

I was reminded of this when I read about Glenn Maxwell taking a physical and mental health break from the Royal Challengers Bangalore. His form has been tepid, and the side has lost all but one of their matches and are on course to be eliminated. While the side has numerous gaps, one of the issues has been Maxwell’s inability to fire on all cylinders and put runs on the board in the powerplay.

Firstly, it’s a remarkably honest admission from a player to ask for such a break, and this isn’t the first time he is doing it.

In his statement, he said a couple of things that stand out and are food for thought.

“𝘛20 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘭𝘦 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘳, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘨𝘰 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵. 𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘴.”

Maxwell was in red-hot form before coming into the tournament but has seemingly hit a brick wall in the IPL. No one can be on a good run forever, and it is sometimes hard to come to terms with this. Players have different ways of dealing with a lack of form. Some believe in playing to get their rhythm back, and others believe in walking away from the game for a while.

“𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦.”

When things aren’t on your side, it’s hard to step off the pedal and admit it. It’s like a gambler having a bad day trying another hand, hoping things will turn out differently instead of walking away (for good). Thinking rationally inside a roller coater (even a metaphorical one) is near impossible.

Walking away to regain perspective and rediscover joy in the journey is underrated, yet extremely valuable.