Friday August 26, 2015.
I woke up that morning nervous. I was at a new school living with new people in a new dorm room. Everything that I looked around to that morning was strange to me. It was hot in the room due to it being summer still and I did not have a fan in my room, which is made it even better (sarcasm). I looked at my phone sitting in my bed; it read 11:37 a.m. Normally I would be dragging myself out of bed for cross country practice or prepping for cross country practice. But when I woke up, I didn't have to do either.
The feeling of not being a student-athlete was the greatest feeling in the world, at first. I was able to do what I wanted whenever I wanted to. I was able to sit in my room for the whole day playing video games without having to worry about running. I was able to eat whatever I wanted for breakfast, lunch, and dinner because I didn't need to wonder how it was going to affect me later on my run; and just be lazy in my room without having to constantly look at my phone, watch, or any other device with the time on it. Hell because of me turning 21 this past summer, I was able to drink whatever I wanted whenever I wanted as long as I was a responsible adult. In terms of running, I was able to run whenever I wanted to. I would go for a run at 10 p.m. or later if I chose to; because I was not required to get up at 6:30 a.m. to go to practice or go to practice at 3 p.m. I could also run however far I wanted to. It was my choice for the first time in my life to decide how far I would run. Whether it was seven miles or just 10 minutes. It was the greatest feeling to make those kinds of decisions.
Then the following Monday, classes started. I was going to my new classes at my new school doing the same routine for the first week: walk to class, sit in class and talk about the syllabus, leave class, head back to dorm, sit in dorm, repeat. For me it felt weird because I didn't have to worry about going to practice, run, or even have to lift weights. I felt like a lost puppy. I had all this time now I never had in my college career because it was set up for me. Instead of getting up at 7 a.m. to lift, I was getting up at 9:30 a.m. to get ready for class. Instead of going to practice at 3 p.m., I was sitting in my room debating whether I want to eat, do homework, or be lazy and watch TV and play video games. Not only that but a lot of my friends were my teammates so I wasn't able to visit them every day like I was able to at Ferris State University. I just felt so lost, not knowing what to do with my life.
Now being two weeks into the school year, I've adjusted better to my surroundings and my college life the way I intended when I transferred to Central Michigan University. My new roommates are just like me: former athletes who like to keep in shape, but love to play video games. In fact, two of them took me to my first football at CMU last week and I had a blast. With Mount Pleasant being one hour away from Big Rapids, I am able to visit my friends at Ferris whenever I want. In the meantime, I've been meeting new people here at Central. I even tried out the running club for the first time yesterday. I'll admit, I miss that lifestyle sometimes because being a student-athlete gave me a sense of pride and a sense of accomplishment. But I think I'm happy with my life is. I don't feel the need to pick up where I left off at my student-athlete life. I believe I will be happier as a normal college student. Besides, being just a student allows me to do things I was never able to do as a student-athlete.
