I would have categorized myself as an athlete all my life. I grew up spending countless hours in the gym learning to love the sport of volleyball and learning to hate basketball. I spend my Sunday mornings by praising God from a softball field and Sunday afternoons swimming lap after lap at the local pool. When my high school athletic career began coming to a close I felt like I was losing myself. I had been known as a lot of thing in high school: band geek, speech team captain, music nerd but always along with one of those athlete was mentioned. Now I didn't know what to do with myself when someone asked who I was.
Thankfully I didn't have to give up that identity quite yet since the Lord blessed me with the ability and opportunity to join the volleyball team at the collegiate level, starting right after what would have been my freshman season in college. I finally had it back. The team, the memories, the jokes and bus rides, and my number one descriptor. And yet, after only a year and a half, I am back to where I used to be...lost. After unfortunate injuries and situations, the best decision for my health and future was to end while I was ahead. And so, with great difficulty, I ended my athletic career, again. As this is my first few months not participating and it being summer I don't feel all that different. But I know as season rolls around and the hot August days mean school is coming I know I will be singing a different tune. After 20 years of being categorized as an athlete, now what?
Labels come and go in our lives just as people do. We morph and change like everything else in this world and continuously form new identities. One of the greatest strengths of the human race. But I liked my label. It was one I could be proud of and was happy to share with others. And now I have to pick a new one. Maybe I will go with Psychology geek or Dog Obsessed. Regardless, I have to say goodbye to a huge part of my life. I am no longer going to drag myself out of bed to head over to 6 a.m. weights while eating Easy Mac. I will no longer have to get the nasty leftovers in the cafeteria because of practice running late, again. I will no longer sing "Lizzie McGuire" on the bus heading to Iowa. I will no longer have floor burns on my floor burns and bruises on my hips. I will no longer have the number one thing I love in my life anymore. And I don't know what to do. So as I try to work through my goodbyes to athletics and volleyball, be thankful and appreciate the ability God gave you, and always give 100% because you don't know when your last day on the court will be.
