The Power of Positivity!
- Rob Lee
- Sep 7, 2017
- 3 min read
There will be many ups and downs during your days marshalling, some days you’re buzzing around with the best hobby in the world, the next you will just think, why am I here? Am I enjoying this? Should I continue? These thoughts normally come when you’ve had a bad day or something just doesn’t feel right anymore, whether you’ve got bored or fallen out of love with it. You’re never alone with these thoughts.
A brief time alone before the next session is sometimes all it takes. [Photo: Paul Williams]
So what can you do to give yourself that love for marshalling again? Hopefully the points below will cover it for most cases.
All Change
The first one may seem a little simple. If you aren’t enjoying what you are doing, then maybe it might be worth looking at changing? I like to use the phrase of “Once you’ve found your niche, run with it!” You may have done the bank or specialist for years, so maybe it is time for a change of focus?
No one will ever knock you for giving a different discipline a go! It’s there for you to explore! [Photo: Paul Williams]
I know of a few marshals that have decided to go into either the Pit Lane or onto Startline because it is something they have always wanted to do. Having a change in your marshalling career could also be the thing you need to realise how much you like doing the other thing. Whist I found it fun being in Assembly and on Startline from the few times I’ve done it, it reminded how much I enjoyed being out on the bank, but every now and again it is good to have the variety.
What a Difference a Day Makes
It has been said by many people that no two days of marshalling are ever the same, but how do you use another day to turn around a day that you haven’t enjoyed? I’ve had posts which I would have thought would have been busy and been quiet and vice versa, but I’ve always looked at the positive of the day.
A busy day could be coming up for you soon, so enjoy those days where you can watch the racing. [Photo: Paul Williams]
If I’ve had a quiet day, I like to think that I’ve had the best day of marshalling because I haven’t had to anything or go to any incidents. That doesn’t mean next week will be the same, it doesn’t even mean tomorrow will be the same. Last weekend at Anglesey was completely like this. I had a Saturday of four cars that spun and continued. On Sunday, I had Karts retiring at my post, cars making contact, overtakes under red flags and it was relentless. So there will be a bit of better day coming for you!
Take the Time to Make Some Sense
If you’ve tried to do something different at the circuit, kept the positivity flowing and that doesn’t work, then maybe just a little bit of time away from the orange will help to allow you to relax. There are only so many working days straight into a weekend of marshalling we can do and sometimes it can get too much. After all, the first rule we always say when we go marshalling is to keep ourselves safe and look after ourselves.
Clear Thinking Space: Time away from marshalling could be the thing needed to realise how much you love it.
Whilst that may be more about keeping yourself in a place of safety during a day of marshalling and an incident, it also applies to us in our general well-being. Last weekend I chose to do the same; I escaped away from the track after all the racing had concluded to spend a little time exploring. Sometimes having other hobbies that allow you to get away will just be enough to make you want to go back to marshalling. I know after four or five rugby games, I know I want to be back in orange!
We Go Again!
After all that, there is another saying I go by which I first heard at university and was said by the group I was friends with. They had a saying when their football team didn’t play as well as they wanted and that’s “We Go Again”. I’d never understood that phrase until I spent time away from marshalling. There will always be a day when everything goes to plan and you’ll come off post smiling from ear to ear! That day will come and the positive belief will drive it there.
Hopefully you’ll be raring to get back into your orange or decide against calling time on it, because we miss you, or we will miss you because everyone in marshalling is as important as the next. After all it is what makes us family………an orange family.
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