Finding My New Team

I was in the middle of 2 other articles this morning until I watched a Ted Talk by Justin Baldoni that inspired me to write this. I had no idea who this guy was until today.

When my football career ended it was time to find a new team. Since I enrolled at Cathedral in 2009, I've always felt that I belonged to something much larger than myself. The feeling continued until I decided that I was done with football after my senior season at Indiana State in 2016.

I knew I could have tried to keep playing, but I felt like there just had to be something else that I was better at. I wanted to search for a new passion. I wanted to work hard and achieve all of the stereotypical perceptions of success.

Towards the end of June, my family and I went on a cruise that started in Rome and made 4 stops in Greece before returning to Italy. It truly opened my eyes to a completely different side of the world.

When we got back to Indiana I thought I had it all figured out. I moved out of my parents house and took a nice marketing job. It has lead me to meet some of the most amazing people. At the same time, I felt like I was settling into the regular life, unsure of how to honestly express myself in a world that encourages people to be quiet.

Anyone who knows me knows that I have A LOT  to say.... about EVERYTHING! That's why this website is all over the place, but also why I encourage others to share their thoughts as well because I want EVERYONE to be heard.

Towards the end of September it was like I had crashed, I had felt empty in a way, don't really know how to describe it. I just felt like I didn't know who was looking back at me in the mirror. I didn't know what team I belonged to.

I opened up to my mom about it, started hanging around the house more. We watch 'This Is Us' every Tuesday night and now that it's over we just watch Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy. We try and see who can get the most questions right between the two of us. I don't think she realizes how much fun I have just hanging out with her.

I started playing basketball at Castleview Church on Thursdays.

Before we play basketball for 2 hours, there's a 25-30 minute discussion about some of the lessons that are being taught throughout the Bible.

Regardless of what you choose to believe, these are valuable lessons that can be applied to everyday life if interpreted correctly. Recently we've started gathering an hour before we play to open up and talk about some of the things that are on our minds. 

I saw dozens of my former teammates at ISU's homecoming back in October, some of them were feeling the same way and it was good to talk about it.

As all of this was happening, my JOY was coming back, and stronger than ever before. It returned as I began to realize how it important it is to just be ME and now I want to be ME louder than ever before.

When you're around people that allow you to express your creativity and are open to talk about anything and everything, that 's how you continue to grow.

This is why I want you to see things how I see them, but more than anything, I want to see things how you see them. I want someone to read this and be inspired to guest write! It can be about anything!

I feel like I am who I am because of all of you, anyone who I've ever met has impacted my life in one way or another. You have helped shaped and influence me into becoming who I am right now.

Like I said, I was a free agent, looking for a new team, but now I've found it. THE WORLD is my team, I want the world to see me just as bad as I want to see the world.   - Through 2 Eyes.