We were watching the Oprah interview of the Miami Heat big 3.  There was a group interview and there were individual interviews.  Tonight, as I listened  to Oprah interview Chris Bosh and Duane Wade, there was something that both of them said that stood out as an incredible identity insight.  They both said that they were their true selves on the basketball court.  Even though they showed video of them at home with their family or during interviews on the basketball game – they both said that they were themselves when they were on the basketball court.

They said that they can be competitive on the basketball court.

They said that they can be as mad as they wanted to be on the basketball court.

They said that they can be their true selves when they are playing.  Duane Wade said that for a few hours on the court, they did not have to worry about anything.  That they could just focus on basketball, and that they can tune out all the other things in their lives.

When they say that they can be their true selves when they are on the court, they have taken on a projected version of themselves as the true self.  They put a uniform on.  They put on their basketball selves and they both communicated that it was their true self.  It might have been their most ideal self, but their true selves come with worry and pain.  All of our true selves do.

We can all have a version of our true selves on the basketball court – it might be a romanticized, true version.  It might not even be a projected self.  Who knows?  It was still an interesting interview.  You should check it out.