Coaches Corner
Welcome to the 2nd installment of the HCF Coaches Corner! Each Sunday one of the HCF coaches will make a blog post to talk about whatever they have on their minds to share with the community!
The Pursuit of Happiness- By Coach Kyle
“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
As a child, my response never wavered, never changed. When I think about my childhood, the memories that stand out to me are the ones that were made at late night soccer practice, or at the excitement of having two P.E. periods in one week. I’d always be the last to leave the fields at recess.
What did I want to be when I grew up? I wanted to be a professional soccer player. Even when I reached middle school, my favorite subject was physical education. At 8am I’d be dressed and ready to go with my AXE in tow. In high school though, P.E. classes year-round were a thing of the past. At the start of freshman year I was on crutches sidelined with a knee injury sustained in a soccer game. At the time, I was relegated to a desk in a health class, which suited me just fine until I could get back on my feet next semester in a personal fitness class.
But for that semester, without any kind of physical activity, I was able to take stock of other areas in my life that weren’t making me the person I wanted to become. Mentally I wasn’t in a great place, and I gaining weight like nobody’s business. (I weighed more in high school than I do now!) Discipline and diet were easy enough to ignore when I was sweating out on the field. Only after being forced to pause and take a look at myself did I notice these were problems. It was at that point that I made just one little lifestyle change. I gradually cut out soda. (Hard to imagine now, but the only time I ever drank water was occasionally during soccer practices and at the school water fountains.)
Now this story is not about how drinking water led me to becoming a happier person. It’s about making the change to become a happier you. When backed into a corner or put in circumstances that are not the most desirable, you have to make the most of it. Once I returned to playing soccer I lost 40 pounds and was in the best shape of my life. I could run for hours and that accomplishment made me happy. Moreover, being the best soccer player I could be made me happy.
Throughout high school and even to this day I’ve always turned to the one thing that’s given me hope and a purpose. Even if your source of happiness isn’t readily available and at your fingertips – whether it’s a person or a thing – then at least seek out what’s causing you sadness and take the needed steps to alter the course. Sadness is fleeting but happiness lasts a lifetime. Do you remember what you wanted to be when you grew up?
