This article is part of the series on cognitive distortions , systematic errors in thinking that affect all of us, not just athletes.
Morning, 6:30. The alarm rings. Training is at 7:00. But your body says “no” , you feel fatigue, heaviness, a lack of desire. And your brain makes a quick, elegant conclusion: “I feel tired, therefore I am tired. There’s no point in training. Better to stay in bed.” Sounds logical, right? The sensation of fatigue is real, and the decision not to train seems perfectly justified.
Except it isn’t. At least not as much as you think.
What your body is telling you at 6:30 in the morning could be sleep inertia, mental rather than physical fatigue, or simply your brain’s reluctance to leave the comfort zone. But you’ve already made the decision , because you accepted your feeling as fact. Welcome to the world of emotional reasoning.
What Is Emotional Reasoning?
Emotional reasoning is a cognitive distortion in which we accept our emotional states as evidence for objective reality. In other words: “I feel it, therefore it’s true.”
David Burns describes it as the seventh pattern in his classification of cognitive distortions. The logic behind it is deceptively simple, which is precisely why it’s so insidious:
- I feel unprepared -> Therefore I am unprepared.
- I feel stupid -> Therefore I am stupid.
- I feel anxious -> Therefore there is something to worry about.
- I feel incompetent -> Therefore I can’t handle it.
Emotional reasoning turns a subjective sensation into an objective “truth” , without a single piece of evidence other than the feeling itself.
An important clarification: emotions aren’t “bad.” They’re valuable signals that deserve attention. The problem arises when we accept them as the only and indisputable source of information. A feeling is input data, not a conclusion. It tells you something, but it doesn’t tell you everything , and it certainly doesn’t tell you what “the truth” is.
Emotional Reasoning in Everyday Life
Before we delve into the sporting context, let’s see how pervasive this distortion is in ordinary life:
- At work: “I feel overwhelmed, so it must be impossible to get everything done.” (Yet maybe you’re anxious rather than actually overwhelmed , and your task list is perfectly manageable if you break it into steps.)
- In relationships: “I feel like my partner is pulling away, so something must be wrong between us.” (But actually they’re stressed about a work project and need space, not a talk about “our relationship.”)
- In decision-making: “I don’t feel ready for this position, so I shouldn’t apply.” (Yet objectively you have all the necessary qualifications and experience.)
- With health: “I feel something strange in my body, so it must be something serious.” (But it’s muscle tension from stress.)
Notice the pattern: feeling -> automatic conclusion -> decision based on the conclusion rather than objective reality. The emotion serves simultaneously as judge, jury, and executioner.
In Sport: When Feelings Lie
The sporting context is the ideal laboratory for emotional reasoning, because sport is an emotionally charged activity. Adrenaline, endorphins, frustration, euphoria, fear , everything happens at high intensity. And it’s precisely this intensity that makes emotions seem more “real” than facts.
Before Training: “I Have No Energy”
This is perhaps the most common example. You feel tired, heavy, unmotivated , and decide that your body is telling you not to train. But let’s distinguish:
- Physical fatigue (real): You slept 4 hours, you have muscle soreness from yesterday’s workout, your resting heart rate is 10 beats higher than normal.
- Mental fatigue (not physical): You had a stressful day at work, you don’t feel like going out, your brain craves comfort , but your body is perfectly capable of training.
Research shows that mental fatigue affects the perception of effort but not actual physical capacity (Marcora, Staiano & Manning, 2009). In other words: you can feel tired without actually being tired. And if you base your decision solely on the sensation, you miss workouts that your body can handle just fine.
Before Competition: “I’m Not Ready”
- Emotional reasoning: “I feel anxiety before the start. So I must not be prepared. If I were prepared, I wouldn’t feel this way.”
- Reality: Pre-race anxiety is a normal physiological response , even elite athletes experience it. It’s not an indicator of unpreparedness; it’s an indicator that you care about the result. Your body is preparing for intense activity , adrenaline is flowing, heart rate increases, muscles tense. This is preparation, not weakness.
During the Workout: “My Body Is Giving Up”
- Emotional reasoning: “My legs are heavy at kilometer 25. I feel terrible. So I’m going to collapse. I can’t go on.”
- Reality: Heavy legs at kilometer 25 are normal , glycogen decreases, fatigue accumulates. But “I feel terrible” doesn’t mean “I can’t go on.” Tim Noakes’s Central Governor Model suggests that the brain exaggerates fatigue signals as a protective mechanism , before the body has actually reached its limits (Noakes, 2012).
After the Workout: “I’m Not Improving”
- Emotional reasoning: “I feel disappointed with today’s workout. So I must not be progressing.”
- Reality: Disappointment is an emotion, not a data point. Your training log shows that your volume and intensity have been steadily increasing for three months. Today’s session wasn’t “bad” , it just didn’t match your momentary emotional expectation.
The Stoic Perspective: Fact vs. Impression
The Stoics understood emotional reasoning 2,000 years before Aaron Beck and David Burns categorized it. Epictetus made a fundamental distinction between the impression (phantasia) and assent (synkatathesis):
- The impression is automatic , you feel fatigue, anxiety, fear. You can’t control it.
- Assent is conscious , whether you accept or don’t accept the impression as truth. This is within your control.
Marcus Aurelius formulated it elegantly: “Remove the opinion and the complaint disappears. Remove the complaint and the harm disappears” (Meditations, IV.7). Applied to sport: it’s not the sensation of fatigue that sabotages you, but the automatic conclusion “I’m tired, so I can’t” to which you give your assent.
If this perspective interests you, I recommend the article on Stoicism and sport psychology.
How to Recognize Emotional Reasoning
Here are concrete markers to watch for:
1. The Linguistic Marker: “I feel, therefore…”
Every time your thought follows the pattern “I feel X, therefore Y is true,” it’s time for a pause. The word “therefore” is the bridge through which emotion invades the territory of facts. Place a checkpoint on that bridge.
2. Decisions Made “By Feeling”
If you notice that your most important decisions (to train or not, to compete or not, to continue or stop) are based primarily on your momentary emotional state , you have an indication of emotional reasoning.
3. Mismatch Between Data and Sensation
If objective data (training log, measurable results, coach feedback) says one thing and you “feel” another , your emotions are probably distorting the picture. Data doesn’t lie. Feelings , sometimes do.
How to Work with Emotional Reasoning: Practical Techniques
Technique 1: Separating Feeling from Fact
When you feel a strong emotion pushing you toward a decision, pause and fill in two columns:
- What I feel: “I feel unprepared. I’m anxious. I lack confidence.”
- What are the facts: “I trained 4 times this week. I followed the program. My results are improving. My nutrition and sleep were good.”
Simply seeing the two columns side by side is enough to realize the discrepancy. CBT works precisely this way , through systematic differentiation of automatic thoughts from evidence.
Technique 2: The 10-Minute Rule
Next time your emotions tell you “There’s no point, don’t train,” do this: tell yourself “I’ll try for 10 minutes. If after 10 minutes I still feel bad, I’ll stop.”
In most cases, you’ll find that after 10 minutes the fatigue has vanished, the endorphins have started flowing, and your workout is going great. The sensation was real , but it was temporary and misleading. Your actual ability was never in question.
Technique 3: Checking the “Evidence”
When a feeling tells you something, ask yourself: “What objective evidence do I have for this?”
- Feeling: “I’m not ready for the marathon.”
- Evidence: I’ve run 32 km on a long run. My average pace has improved by 15 sec/km over the last 3 months. I haven’t missed a single key workout.
- Reassessment: “I feel anxiety, but the data shows I’m prepared. The anxiety is normal , it’s not an indicator of reality.”
Technique 4: Relabeling the Emotion
This technique is elegant and powerful. Instead of fighting the emotion, relabel it:
- Instead of: “I feel fear before the start” -> “This is excitement. My body is preparing to perform.”
- Instead of: “I feel exhausted” -> “My body wants rest. But does it actually need it?”
Research by Alison Wood Brooks from Harvard Business School shows that relabeling anxiety as excitement improves performance in stressful situations (Brooks, 2014). The physiology of fear and excitement is nearly identical , what differs is the interpretation.
Connection to Other Distortions
Emotional reasoning rarely acts in isolation. It interweaves with:
- Catastrophizing: “I feel anxiety, therefore something bad will happen” , the emotion “proves” the impending catastrophe.
- Mind reading: “I feel incompetent, therefore others see me that way too” , the emotion projects a “reality” onto others’ opinions.
- Perfectionism: “I don’t feel fully prepared, therefore it’s not good enough” , the emotion sets the standard.
What to Remember
Emotions are valuable. They are a compass that shows you the direction. But a compass is not the map, and the sense of direction is not the coordinates. Emotional reasoning turns the compass into the map , and thus leads you down the wrong route.
Next time your feelings tell you “I can’t,” pause and ask: “What are the facts?” You might be surprised how different the answer is.
Emotions tell you how you feel. Facts tell you what is. Wisdom is listening to both , but making your decisions based on the latter.
If this topic has resonated with you and you want to better understand how your thinking patterns affect your everyday decisions, a psychological consultation is a good start. And for a comprehensive look at your psychological profile , check out the Synergistic Protocol.
References:
Burns, D.D. (1980). Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy. New York: William Morrow.
Beck, A.T. (1976). Cognitive Therapy and the Emotional Disorders. New York: International Universities Press.
Marcora, S.M., Staiano, W., & Manning, V. (2009). Mental fatigue impairs physical performance in humans. Journal of Applied Physiology, 106(3), 857–864.
Noakes, T.D. (2012). Fatigue is a brain-derived emotion that regulates the exercise behavior. Frontiers in Physiology, 3, 75.
Brooks, A.W. (2014). Get excited: Reappraising pre-performance anxiety as excitement. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 143(3), 1144–1158.
Marcus Aurelius. Meditations. Penguin Classics.