What is the first thing you think about when you hear the words "college athlete"? Is it all the school gear they wear around campus? Maybe the posters you see of them on bulletin boards? Probably hearing about how they get early class registration while some of them don't even have to pay tuition? Makes some people feel pretty jealous or even angry, I know. But speaking as a student-athlete myself, I also know firsthand how the life of a student-athlete is, and let me tell you, it is not as much of a walk in the park as people make it sound, but we all knew this coming in.

First off, I do have to acknowledge the fact that yes, we do get perks. But, for the most part, we try not to boast about it. The scholarships, tutoring, gear, and fueling stations are all privileges, not rights, and we are grateful for all of them.

Now, let me try and give you a glimpse into what daily life looks like from a student-athlete's perspective. We wake up at 5 a.m. to get ready for morning workouts, head to classes, find time to eat here and there, squeeze in study hall hours, go to rehab, practice/train for three hours, and by the time it hits 7 p.m., we maybe have another class to go to before heading back to study hall and meeting up with a tutor to help catch up on concepts we missed since we were out traveling for an away game or tournament. All of the privileges we talked about before are all there for a reason. If you had to miss a week's worth of classes before a midterm, some free tutoring would be pretty nice, right? If you had to walk 24 miles with a 35-pound golf bag on your back for the weekend, sit on a plane for four hours, come back to campus at 2 a.m., and still go to class that day, rehab with an athletic trainer would surely help, wouldn't it?

Look at it from this point of view: a "normal" college student has the time to join a sorority, become president of an RSO, enjoy campus events like when Jesse McCartney came to give a concert at UIUC, or even go out on the weekends. A student-athlete is not a "normal" college student, not only because of their skill in their respective sport but because of their willingness to sacrifice some of these "normal" student pleasures in order to do the things to best represent their school in the classroom and in their sport.

As student-athletes we have decided to wake up early and stay up late because we love to do what we do, and to be honest, we do it for you, the people who make up our university. Without you, there wouldn't be trips around the country for games and tournaments or scholarships for out-of-state students or tutoring to help us graduate on time and find jobs after our college athletic career is over. The least we can do for you is keep on grinding, and the least you can do for us is respect the grind.

We are more than just athletes. We are student-athletes. So, before you start complaining about how student-athletes around your campus have the easiest life, be thankful of the one you have, understand where we come from, what we have gone through to get here and what we still go through now, and why we do it. On a broader scale, before saying "I wish I had..." for things in general, take some time to be thankful for the things you have and the different experiences you get to partake in because student-athlete or not, everyone is #blessed one way or another.