Ever since I was young sports were my hobby. Sure, I grew up running in the sand, boogie boarding and traveling, but my true "hobby" was sports. With a father who started coaching my softball team at age six and triplet cousins who always kept the competition alive, I did not know any different. I had always been good in school, and school consumed a lot of time, but a majority of my energy went into participating in organized sports: softball, volleyball, basketball, dance, soccer, gymnastics, you name it.

By the time seventh grade rolled around, I had told myself I was going to go to college on an athletic scholarship to continue being a student-athlete. By the time I got to high school softball had stuck and I had discovered running. As a top performing runner and softball team captain, I was, what I would call, an "athlete."

The first question my grandmother would always ask me was: "How's softball?" My mother would tell people I was a student-athlete and my father would go on and on to his clients about how his daughter made it to Junior Olympics. Yet, here I am in college as an N.A.R.P. or "non-athletic regular person".....

As someone who has always identified as an athlete, I was shocked, even offended when my identity was stripped from me and I was addressed as an N.A.R.P. So what happened? Why did my athletic career dwindle in my later years of high school? Do I regret not being an athlete now? I suppose these are questions I will have to continue to ponder.

So even though I have come to terms with the collegiate identification of N.A.R.P., I think deep down a part of me will always resonate with being an athlete. Nonetheless, here are five things I have learned about the reality of life as a "non-athletic regular person" as an ex-athlete:

1. You have a lot more time

You do not have practice to attend and games to compete in, so your schedule is lighter than the average student-athlete.

2. You have more energy than your athlete friends

Now, let me explain. This is only because while you are sitting on your butt in the library writing an essay for five hours, your athlete friends are working their butts off training. So, when it comes time to walk to dinner, yes, you do have more energy to walk up that hill to your favorite restaurant.

3. You get to sleep more

Well, yes and no. It depends on what rigor your academic and workload entails. But you are not required to wake up at 6 a.m. for workouts like the athletes in your life.

4. You do not miss school (un-voluntarily)

As a student-athlete in high school I missed SOO much school participating in three different athletic seasons. In college, when the pace is quicker and the work more rigorous I am grateful I do not have to miss as much school as the bunches of student-athletes.

5. You dress nicer

As an athlete, I wore shorts, a pony-tail and tennis shoes all-day everyday. That is not to say I do not fall back into this look, but for the most part I have the freedom to dress more nicely because I do not have athletic obligations to fulfill throughout the day.