Growing up sports had always been a part of my life but when college came along and a scholarship most definitely didn't, the sports stopped.

There was no more hours of practice, weekend tournaments, and sure as heck no one to keep me in shape and accountable.

After that very last high school game, sadness hits you like a brick. Anyone who has stepped off the court, the track, the field, or the stage for the last time could tell you that.

When you realize it is over, it is such a weird feeling.

However, after a little while, I don't know about you, but it was actually sort of glorious. Not worrying about if practice would interfere with your work schedule and knowing that you actually had this thing called "free time" was kind of nice.

Perhaps you were slightly burnt out from the hours of working out, having practices, and arranging your life around the sport. Perhaps you were worn out from playing game after game, or sitting on the bench game after game (let's be real, we've all been there at some point).

But then, you notice that you are on this roller coaster of missing the long hours of practice all over again.

You missed the long hours of practices.

You missed the girls who held you accountable and the coaches who pushed you when you didn't want to be pushed.

You missed not having to worry about eating a donut (or three) because you knew that the next practice it would be worked off.

For any former high school (or college) athletes, I'm sure you have felt this. All of the sudden, you are thrown into the real world and you realize that this team you grew up with, wasn't necessarily there once the sport was taken away.

And friends, if this true for you then I feel ya.

You might be stuck in this part of life where not only do you miss the sport, but you miss the friends that came with it. You miss the life that you had even though it revolved so much around when you needed to work out.

Yet, I have some good news for you. It turns out that we don't have to have a sport take over our lives in order to stay in shape and we most definitely don't have to be playing on a team to make friends.

It's about balance and finding your own groove in this crazy world.

The hours you may not be spending at practice, you can spend meeting new people and making new friends that you probably wouldn't have met if you were still consumed by the sport you loved.

As for working out, you CAN be kept accountable by joining a class, or even getting a gym membership, if you have the self-control to keep on going to the gym (I for one, don't always have this self-control).

You could even come to find that though you love that sport you played forever, you also love reading, hiking, hammocking, traveling, or cycling.

There are millions of things out there to explore, don't get down in the dumps about the loss of a sport. Take this as a new opportunity to get to know what you are capable of outside of a CIF win or new personal record.