Beautiful narratives about difficult times: Young female athletes' experiences of emotional pain and self compassion

Abstract

Self-compassion is an adaptive way of relating to the self kindly when experiencing personal failure and difficult life experiences. However, there is little research in the area of self-compassion and sport even though recent investigation shows it might act as a potential buffer to painful emotion for athletes. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore and present narratives of six young women athletes (15-24