Rebecca Symes: Identity
Losing your job is hard to stomach, but for athletes it can be particularly tough. More than half of former professional sportspeople have had concerns about their mental or emotional wellbeing since retiring, according to a 2018 BBC survey. This week Simon sits down with sports psychologist Rebecca Symes to explore what makes up someone’s identity or ‘self’, and uncover the reasons why people- and sportspeople in particular- have emotional difficulties when their career finishes. Their identity is inevitably very bound up in their role as an athlete, so when that ends the question ‘who am I’ invariably rises. It’s a question relevant to each and every one of us, and there are lessons we can all take from the struggles many athletes go through.