Fear, Love, and the Inner Booing Crowd: How to Thrive Like Jose Altuve

Fear Love and the Inner Booing

Ever feel like you're being booed—by people, by circumstances, or worst of all, by that voice inside your own head?

Yeah. Me too.

In a recent speech I gave (and refined and revised and gave again!), something finally landed. I shared a powerful truth: fear and love cannot coexist. That line sparked curiosity in the room, and it’s been echoing ever since. So today, we’re diving deeper—into fear, love, sports psychology, and how my all-time favorite athlete, Jose Altuve, gives us a masterclass in handling criticism with courage.

Whether you’re a speaker, parent, entrepreneur, or just trying to make it through the week—this post is for you.

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Watch the video on YouTube

Listen to the Episode Here!

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⚾ The Boo Heard Around the Stadium

Let’s start with Jose Altuve. He’s one of the most beloved—and controversial—players in Major League Baseball. After the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal, Altuve became a target for relentless booing and heckling from opposing fans. He’s not just dealing with pressure—he’s dealing with public shame, scrutiny, and daily criticism on national stages.

Now, in 2025, Altuve’s shifted positions—from second base to the outfield. That’s a big change for any player, especially a shorter one who now has to throw farther and think differently. And yet, he thrives.

How?

Let’s unpack the answer through the lens of sports psychology, military wisdom, and personal growth.

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Fear and Love Cannot Co-Exist

💡 Fear and Love: Why They Can’t Hang Out

Fear and love don’t share space well. When the light of love flips on, fear scrambles. But being human? We forget that.

Fear clouds our vision. Love brings clarity.

When we meet fear with courage, that’s love in motion. And love in motion can do amazing things—like help you nail a speech after a sleepless, anxiety-ridden night (been there) or help an athlete rise above shame and scrutiny and still show up with heart.

But how do we actually do that?

Enter a powerful tool: Controlling the Controllables.

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The Power of Controlling the Controllables

🧠 The Power of Controlling the Controllables

This phrase comes from both sports psychology and the military. It’s the practice of letting go of what you can’t control and focusing completely on what you can.

Let’s look at what Jose Altuve can’t control:

• The fans booing him

• The media’s opinions

• His past mistakes

• The stadium vibe

• Whether people believe in him or not

That’s a pretty long list. And if he focused on all that? He’d be frozen in fear.

But here’s what he can control—and what you can too.

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6 Things You CAN Control

✅ Six Things You Can Control Right Now

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1. Your Attitude

Altuve doesn’t let booing fluster him. He stays focused and grounded. You can choose your attitude too—every single moment. Positive, calm, and self-supporting.

2. Your Effort

No matter what others say, you get to choose how hard you try. Give it your all. Show up with excellence, regardless of who’s watching.

3. Your Focus

Altuve isn’t thinking about the last pitch or the crowd. He’s locked in on the pitch right in front of him. You can practice the same: be present.

4. Your Routine

Athletes thrive on routines. Routines ground us. Morning mindset, pre-game rituals, evening resets—these help us stay calm and in flow. Stick to what works for you.

5. Your Self-Talk

You are your own loudest voice. What are you saying to yourself? Is it kind? Is it encouraging? Don’t internalize the crowd’s noise. Replace it with belief.

6. Your Body Language

Slumped shoulders? Downcast eyes? That posture becomes your reality. Show up physically the way you want to feel emotionally. Stand tall. Breathe deep.

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Fro the Stadium to the Stage - And YOUR Life

🎙️ From the Stadium to the Stage (And Your Own Life)

This morning, I woke up with anxiety. It was one of those nights—racing thoughts, restless sleep, pressure to perform. I had a speech to give, and part of me wanted to pull back.

But I remembered: I can control what I can control.

So I took a breath, grounded myself, and gave that speech. And it landed. Because showing up, even when the inner fans are booing, is how we build resilience.

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Neville Goddard Principles

🌀 Bringing Neville Goddard Into the Game

Let’s take this even deeper. If you follow Neville Goddard, you know his teaching: everyone is you pushed out.

What does that mean here?

It means the fans booing Jose Altuve—or the inner critics booing you—are simply mirrors. They reflect beliefs we hold, fears we entertain, doubts we haven’t released. But when we change our internal state, the outer world must follow.

So what if those booing fans were just a projection of your old story—and you get to change the script?

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📝 Journal Prompts to Coach Yourself Through It

Want to go deeper? Try these two journal prompts:

1. Where in my life am I giving power to things I can't control?

   Reflect on where anxiety shows up—especially at night. What’s consuming your energy that’s not yours to fix?

2. What would shift if I let that go and focused only on what's mine to lead?

   Visualize how different your day would feel if you stayed in your zone—attitude, effort, focus, self-talk, posture. What becomes possible?

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Your Inner Game is the Real Game

👏 Final Thoughts: Your Inner Game Is the Real Game

We all have internal fans. And some days, they boo.

But you get to decide what happens next.

Do you spiral into fear, or do you stand in love?

Do you shrink, or do you show up anyway?

Like Jose Altuve, you can choose to meet adversity with grace, focus, and grounded power. That’s not just baseball—that’s bravery.

So the next time your inner crowd turns against you, remember: fear and love cannot coexist. Flip on the light. Choose courage. Step up to the plate.

You’ve got this.

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🙋‍♀️ About Kathie

Kathie Owen is a corporate wellness consultant, motivational speaker, and mindset coach based in Houston, Texas. With over 20 years of experience in fitness, leadership, and personal development, she helps individuals and organizations unlock their full potential—physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Kathie is the creator of the Better You Challenge and founder of Top Workplace Wellness, a program designed to reduce burnout and increase engagement in the workplace. She’s passionate about sports psychology, flow state, and the power of self-leadership.

On her podcast and YouTube channel, Kathie shares transformational tools inspired by her own journey—including insights from Reality Transurfing and her favorite athletes (shoutout to Jose Altuve). Whether on stage or online, Kathie’s mission is to help you shift your mindset, reclaim your energy, and lead from a place of grounded confidence.

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Transcript from today:

Today I wanna talk to you about what I shared in a recent speech that really landed with someone and the idea that fear and love cannot coexist, and how Jose Altuve, my favorite athlete of all time, gives us a masterclass in this every time he steps up to the field. Whether you're an athlete, a speaker, a parent, or just a human. This message is for you. You're listening to Kathie's Coaching podcast. I'm your host, Kathie Owen. So this morning I gave a speech my revised speech and I talked about how fear and love cannot coexist. So think about it. Fear and love can't coexist at the same time. It's like turning the light on in a room and fear just dismantles because of love. But being human, we don't always see that. Fear clouds. Our vision and love brings clarity. But today I am gonna talk to you about something related to sports psychology and how Jose Altuve being booed and being hated by the fans sometimes has really elevated his game, and how we can use that to our advantage and change our mindset. There is always that voice in our head that tells us we will fail before we even try. That is fear, but when we meet it with courage, that is love in motion and courage. It takes faith sometimes to have courage. Like that dark night when you're just facing all these fears and you're like, how can I find love in this? And then. When you meet it with courage, that is love in motion. So let's talk about how Jose Altuve has been booed and heckled, and actually he has been booed for many years. He was part of the Astros cheating scandal. Whether you think he did or you think he didn't, I'm not worried about that. I'm more excited about the sports psychology of the whole thing because. Now in 2025, Jose Altuve has been moved to the outfield and he's been used to playing second base all of his career, all of his time in baseball, and to shift all the way to the outfield. Being a shorter guy and having to throw a longer distance to get it out at home is different. When you've been playing second base, you don't have to throw as far. And it now, because he'd been caught in that cheating scandal. He's booy and heckled even more like out in the left field. The fans over there will heckle him while he's standing there. And how does he avoid that? And that's what we're talking about today because relate it to your own life and think about how do I handle people booing me? How do I handle people not liking me and things not going the way I thought they were. You know, those expectations. All right. But despite all of this, Jose Altuve still thrives. He keeps showing up. Why? Well, let me introduce to you this sports psychology principle that's also a military principle, and it's controlling the controllables. This happens in sports psychology. We talk about what can we control, what can't we control? And let's talk about that and kind of shift our perspective on finding fear in something. There's things in sports that you just can't control. You can't control the fans' opinions, the media's narratives, the stadium atmosphere. You can't control past mistakes or even public perception. And these are things that you just can't control. And when you let go of that, you kind of let go of. All that fear because hey, I can't control that. But here are things that you can control and let's start with number one. And that's attitude. And this is something I talked about today. When the person asked me, they asked me, how can fear and love? Coexist and I said, well, you know, in sports psychology we talk about controlling the controllables. Like, what can you control? Well, you can control your attitude. You can control how, what you choose to pay attention to. So in Jose Altuve instance, he chooses to stay focused, not flustered, and not confused, and think about it. When you're confronted with something that you can control, you can control your attitude about it, and that is helpful to know. And number two is your effort. And this is something else I told them, I said, you can control your effort and think about an athlete. He controls his effort, he can control. Giving his a hundred percent to his preparation and his play. And this is helpful too, because you can control your effort. It's like, don't give up, just keep, keep on going and don't give up just because somebody's booing you. And then there's number three, which is focus. Jose Altuve locks in on the present pitch. Not the one that's coming later and not the one that already passed. Do you see what I'm getting at here? He. He controls what he can on his focus, and then there's number four, he focuses on his routine and routines can be rituals, they can be mindset drills and focus on what they're focusing on. I know I just talked about focus, but when you look at Jose Altuve, what he's doing is he's sticking to what works. His pre-game rituals, his recovery, his mindset drills, he doesn't focus on what he can't fix. And then there's also self-talk, and I love this one. You know, we are talking to ourself more than we talk to anybody else. And so Jose Altuve does not internalize the noise. He talks back with belief, what he believes about himself and what he believes inside that nobody else sees going on. And then there's number six, the body language. This is something I like to hone in on because a lot of people overlook this, and as a personal trainer, I've been trained to analyze a posture, and your posture says a lot about you. So if you're slumping your shoulders, if you're acting like a victim, and your body language is showing that, that is going to relay over to. Other things and it's something you can control. You, you carry yourself like a professional even when it's hard. I invite you to look at what am I focusing on right now that's outta my control, and what shift if I poured all that energy into what I can control instead? So here's what we can control, at least from my list today. We have attitude, we have effort, we have focus, we have routines, we have our self-talk, and we have our body language. And all of those things can contribute to making you feel better or making you realize, Hey, I can control this. I wanna tie this back to you and I want you to remember, we all have fans inside our heads, and sometimes they are booing, but like Jose Altuve, we get to decide where our focus goes. Do we lean into fear or do we lead with love? And I'd like to share my own booing moment and this has been happening to me kind of frequently Here I wake up with anxiety. I'm trying to reprogram a lot of stuff that really didn't work in my life, and now it's like coming up with nighttime anxiety. And I had a speech today that I had to be like on point for, but my sleep was not very good last night, but I decided. I'm going to control what I can control and go do my speech and take that action after a night of anxiety. And it really helps when you take that action and you realize what you can control. And I also wanna tie this into Neville Goddard's teachings where everyone is, you pushed out. And I spoke about this to my friend at the meeting today and I told her, I said, you know, really and truly, if you think about it, we all have booing fans inside our own inner critic and what if those fans that are booing you, that are so-called booing, you are just projected out. And so if Jose Altuve takes this attitude, which I assume he does, but he realizes that that's about them, or it's not about him, and it's about how he feels inside, and he controls those things by controlling his inner talk and he doesn't let that affect him. So you can also control your breath. You can control your presence. You can control your thoughts, you can control your preparation, your recovery, and that's where your power lies. I want to give you a couple of journal prompts if you want to work on this. I will include them in the show notes and description below if you wanna just copy and paste them. And also I will have a blog post that goes with today's video that you can go look at and has bonus resources. I want to say there are two journal prompts. The first one is, where in my life am I giving power to things I can't control? And where I would journal on that is where was I giving my anxiety to over things that I couldn't control in the middle of the night. It's just almost like no courage, no faith, no understanding there that you do that. And then the second journal prompt would be what would shift if I let that go and focused only on what's mine to lead? Alright, if this message hit home, let me know in the comments below or share your own booing moment when you showed up anyway, because you never know who might benefit from that. And if you want more mindset tools like this, subscribe. We go deep into sports psychology, manifestation, personal growth every single week or maybe even more. All right, that's my episode for today. I trust that you found it helpful. If you know someone who could benefit from this, please share it with them, and until next time, I will see you next time. Peace out and namaste.