What is life when you’re no longer under the bright lights? As an athlete, we were once the best of the best. Then the select few who move forward, eventually the bottom of the elite. Until one day, the channel changed.
The moment we don’t like to imagine is the day other athletes count down to. Our last day competing, might not be a big send off. Sometimes you never know what it will look like on the other end. For me, I wanted a change in my sports career because I was not happy. The new place was almost like the old place. Toxic and unsupportive. It was not the ending that I had planned for my career, but I knew that leaving on my terms was enough for me.
Life after sports has been less glamorous but more freeing. My time is spent growing in areas the spotlight didn’t allow me to. It was another chance to reintroduce myself. Athlete might still be in my introduction but it comes later this time. Every story is different, and I would not have known mine if I had stopped after sports. The life you live is set by how you bounce back from what no longer serves you.
So life after sports is not in denial of who I could have been or what I lost. It is a new one, finding joy in what I thought I had lost. It took a while to realize it, but we each have our own stories. Embrace every moment until your channel changes, then live abundantly in your new one. It will always be your life, with or without sports.
Author: Zariere Dumas
