Pat Vellner Opens Up about His Feelings of “Not Being Good Enough” for The CrossFit Games

Pat Vellner: “With this year’s Regionals finish came a huge amount of relief for me. Leading up to the event I had some anxiety, in fact I’ve had it most of the year, because I was concerned that I was simply not good enough.”

“No matter how hard I trained all year, I have been unable to escape a small feeling that I got lucky last year, and that I really don’t belong where I am.”

“I think that many athletes often feel this way and my brother Jonathan Vellner recently wrote a blog post about “Imposter Syndrome” related to his experiences in sports and show business as well As athletes we tend to be very hard on ourselves, overly critical of our own shortcomings and sometimes have trouble internalizing our own success. We feel all of the work we put in, but often just continue to see holes while seeing only the successes of others and not their sacrifices. It looks so easy for them right? I personally have struggled with this at times and lack some confidence in my own capacities.

Maybe it’s part of what drives me and makes me work so hard, I don’t know. It’s important to remember that we’re all fighting the same battles, everyone is making sacrifices. We’re not machines. I suggest everyone read the Imposter Syndrome post in my bio. It’s an interesting concept, very relatable and easy to read. Anyways, one more regional down, and another ticket to the Games later I may not be an imposter after all, but the journey is just beginning.”

With this year’s regionals finish came a huge amount of relief for me. Leading up to the event I had some anxiety, in fact I’ve had it most of the year, because I was concerned that I was simply not good enough. No matter how hard I trained all year, I have been unable to escape a small feeling that I got lucky last year, and that I really don’t belong where I am. I think that many athletes often feel this way and my brother @jvellner recently wrote a blog post about “Imposter Syndrome” related to his experiences in sports and show business as well (link in bio). As athletes we tend to be very hard on ourselves, overly critical of our own shortcomings and sometimes have trouble internalizing our own success. We feel all of the work we put in, but often just continue to see holes while seeing only the successes of others and not their sacrifices. It looks so easy for them right? I personally have struggled with this at times and lack some confidence in my own capacities. Maybe it’s part of what drives me and makes me work so hard, I don’t know. It’s important to remember that we’re all fighting the same battles, everyone is making sacrifices. We’re not machines. I suggest everyone read the Imposter Syndrome post in my bio. It’s an interesting concept, very relatable and easy to read. Anyways, one more regional down, and another ticket to the Games later I may not be an imposter after all, but the journey is just beginning. #crossfit #sacrifices #mentality #reebokcanada #ImposterSyndrome #takecredit #HWPO #bemorehuman @crossfit @crossfitgames @reebokcanada

A post shared by Patrick Vellner (@pvellner) on May 24, 2017 at 6:31am PDT