It's Never Too Late: A Personal Revelation

For my entire life I have identified as an athlete. I always will. The training I am doing now is making me feel more athletic and empowered than anything I’ve done in my life. I am playing, I’m having fun, and I’m trying to become a little better every day. ⁣⁣
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While I loved a lot about soccer, and I played for 27 years, much of the time soccer brought me stress. I had a tendency of being way too hard on myself, and I also rated my worth as a human based on my perception of how well my soccer was going. I know this is something many athletes do.⁣ This played a role in why I chose to stop playing. ⁣
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Now that I’m no longer playing I’ve had a chance to sit back and really reflect. Over the past few years I’ve done a LOT of work on myself and my mental health. I am in a totally different place in my life, and it’s such a good place. Getting here was not easy. I made a huge investment in myself, and I put in the work. I couldn’t be happier about it, and more proud.⁣
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I am fairly confident if I was still playing this wouldn’t be an issue, and who knows if I’ll play again. I know countless athletes of all genders, ages, and sports base their sense of self worth on their athletic accomplishments, on how well they feel they are playing, and on the opinion of others. This is a topic I strongly believe should be discussed so much more, hence why I am talking about it today. ⁣⁣

I took up calisthenics just over a year ago. Calisthenics will be a huge part of my training (I call it ‘’fun therapy’’) for the rest of my life. While I occasionally catch myself putting pressure on myself or being tough on myself if I can’t do something right away, or if I make a mistake, I’ve become so much more aware and catch myself. I remind myself that I’m worth so much more. ⁣YOU are worth so much more. Also, it’s never too late to find activities that bring you joy. ⁣⁣
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⁣⁣Side note, as quite a few people have asked me, aside from playing on the bouncy gymnastics floor and in the foam pit for maybe 6 months when I was a toddler, I don’t have any formal gymnastics training.⁣⁣