Balancing life and hockey as a student-athlete

Being a student athlete is pretty difficult. I go to school five days a week, then I have sports and clubs after school.  On weekends I have hockey practice and games.  It is a hard balance but I manage to get through it all.  Oh wait!  I forgot to mention I also work part-time in an ice cream store (thank goodness it’s seasonal and it’s closed right now until March). It’s difficult to try to find time to hang out with my friends, to go to the gym, and to rest. But that’s how the cookie crumbles.

It’s the daily grind. Gotta get the right type of mindset: I wake up each morning with determination and go to bed with satisfaction. I feel when you are happy doing something it is not a chore. I am realizing to get to the “Happy Place” we might have to go through some situations that are not always pleasing to us. Even though I am only 15, I feel I am actually getting a grip on what life is really like.  Let’s face it: we have to go to school, school is ok, we have our good classes and we have the classes we hate. I know that after school I get to do what I enjoy, so it’s a balance and I muddle through the “bad” stuff to get to the good stuff.

In thinking of this month’s blog I felt like I had a “brain fog” and I wasn’t too sure what to write about, but I thought if I am writing to hockey lovers, they may understand my pain.

If I had it my way, I would be playing hockey from the moment I got up to the moment I went to sleep.  That’s not REALITY!   I need to go to school and do some things that I have interest in because like my parents say, “you can’t put all your eggs in one basket.” I have many interests and maybe a few other “loves” besides hockey and now is the time to explore them.  So, hockey will always be the thing I love to do the most, but I learned to make the most of every day no matter how tired, stressed or overwhelmed I feel.

Exploring life, trying new things and always improving your mind and body can only help us do better at what we love. So challenge yourself to be the best you can be everyday!