Giving up a Passion

          From the time I was six years old, I was an avid soccer player whom has always loved to follow in her sisters foot steps through club soccer. I made most of my friends through my team in the Heartland Soccer Club, and was thrilled to spend my weekends in Des Moines or Rockford competing with my team and hanging out in hotel rooms. Soccer was the only sport that I was ever really serious about throughout middle school, and I still love to follow up in the Women's National Team during the Olympics and World Cups. Soccer  compromised a huge part of my life, time, and mind for the first 14 years of my life, and I liked it that way.

         This all changed though in the months before my freshman year of high school, when I had a big decision to make. I had made my schools freshman class show choir and was really excited about it, but I also wanted to do both cross country and club soccer as well as maintain a rigorous class load. I originally saw no problem with being involved with all of these activities, but my mom convinced me that I would just spread myself too thin and struggle through the year. I deeply resented her for this and postponed my decision until nearly the last possible minute. I loved soccer and didn't really know anything else from it; I felt comfortable with it. I knew however, that I was a better runner than I was a soccer player, and I was excited to see how far I could go with the sport. Judging by the topic of my blog, I am guessing that you all know what direction I decided to go with. I quit soccer and transformed my identity from the soccer girl to the runner, with was not a terribly easy transition to make. 

       Sometimes I look back on my soccer days and I can't help but smile fondly, I mean it was a great chapter of my life, but that is all. The chapter is over, and though that was a very hard thing for me to comprehend at the time, I realize now that soccer was great for me as a kid, but in the end it was not something that I was necessarily meant to stick with for the long run. I still have my days though where I miss the sport, for instance last week my track team had a soccer scrimmage after practice on for some friendly team bonding. Lets just day that I might have gotten a tab bit too into the game and some of my teammates were shocked to see the shortest girl on the team tackle a ball away from on of our best throwers, who is clearly a lot stronger then me. 

     So my objective in writing this blog is to state that we all have extracurricular activities and hobbies that we are passionate about, and that it good! It helps us to define our values and personalities as individuals. That being said though, we don't all just have one talent or interest, and just because you may outgrow one interest, it does not mean that you will not soon find another hobby to occupy your mind and love again. It's not easy to give up something that has been an important part of your life for so long, and trust me I shed more than a few tears, but I also love my team and the atmosphere of the other sports I am currently involved in, and know that sometimes there is not a 100% right or wrong decision. Compromises are a part of your life, but most of the time life has a way of leading you down a satisfactory path. Giving up something you love is hard, but it can sometimes lead you to new and exciting adventures and experiences that you otherwise would never have had the opportunity to explore.