It’s not a secret that we all strive for greatness. We have goals and aspirations that drive our lives in a constant forward motion. There’s not much that can slow us down except for being worn out, used up, and endlessly discouraged. Only then do you question if what you are doing is worth it.
You either give up, keep grinding, or make a change when things don’t go your way. For me, I believe our worst experiences are actually our best experiences. I think too many people settle and attempt to adapt to unadaptable situations when in actuality they should see these situations as opportunities to learn and better themselves.
It’s easy to celebrate the good times, but what do you do when it seems like everything around you is falling down? Although these times are the most difficult, they are the best times for learning and becoming who you’re meant to be. Lately I think back at some of the hardest times in my life and only see how they have pushed me to be better in all aspects of my life. If it wasn’t for these experiences, I wouldn’t be me.
After only one season of competing as a freshman in college and not doing as well as I wanted to, I decided to transfer. This was somewhat of a shock to people considering I didn’t even finish the year competing. This decision wasn’t a light one; it took a whole lot of reflecting and consideration. My dream since I was fifteen years old was to compete at the Olympic Trials and I knew it would have been too much for my body to go through a long collegiate outdoor season and then do well at the trials. This was purely a decision based on what I knew I needed and it happened to be one of the best decisions of my life. Following this I became a two-time NCAA champion in the long jump and became more confident in my abilities every day. Some people may not have understood why it was such a rash decision to transfer, however none of that mattered to me. Those who knew me and cared for my best interests understood and that’s all that mattered to me. My point is, it doesn’t matter what others think. You always have to do what’s best for you because in the end it pays off as long as you stay humble and true to who you are.
Even though transferring was one of the hardest things I’ve done, struggling with the thing I love most easily tops that. Whenever something consistently seems off in practices or competitions, I know It’s time to take a minute to breathe and reflect. Sometimes It’s a simple fix such as blocking all of my thoughts out and just going. I know my body better than anyone else and no one can argue this considering It’s up to me to regulate it with insulin or carbohydrates literally every second of the day. Usually I’m able to decipher what the issues I am having are by how my body feels or where my mindset is at. If my mind is clear and my body is feeling good then there’s no question I will be jumping far. However, if my body is tired, there’s a bigger issue. Times like these are the best times to reflect and get better. I always reflect back to what my body did when it was at its best and there are two common themes: I’m running fast and relaxed with no internal noise. Whenever I’m thinking too much or my body is in a stressed state, I know it’s time to go back to the basics. Experiencing rough competitions forces me to focus back to what worked so I can become better than I ever was before.
I was a senior in high school competing at our indoor track and field conference championship meet. I was attempting to do three events all within a couple hours of one another, which wasn’t abnormal for high school competitions. My blood sugar level was extremely high before competing and I was trying everything possible to lower it. I gave a huge correction of insulin and went on with my warm up. Every thirty minutes I stopped to check my blood sugar and I noticed that it was plummeting faster than it should have been. I quickly realized that my original high blood sugar reading was somehow wrong and that I just shocked my body with a HUGE amount of insulin that wasn’t even needed. My blood sugar went low and would not go up no matter how much I ate. I was dizzy, shaky, sweaty, and weak all at the same time and I had to compete. Once I got to my second event (long jump) things went downhill. At the start of my run on my second jump, my calf muscle cramped and I couldn’t compete for the rest of the night. For the first time in four years I had to scratch the 200 meter and I was done.
This is how diabetes is sometimes and there’s nothing you can do. You think you are doing everything right, but even that’s not good enough during times like these. I was discouraged, but I knew what I needed to do next time. Low and high blood sugars cause your PH levels to change, which then can cause muscle cramps. There was no way I wanted that to happen again during a competition so from then on I began checking my blood sugars even further in advance and then eventually getting a continuous glucose monitor that read my blood sugars live on my phone or watch.
These situations have taught me the importance of accepting that there will be struggles and hard times throughout life. Ultimately what matters is how you handle these hard times so they don't happen again. If you’re not being true to yourself or others around you then you will never be able to happily push forward through these tough experiences; I have found that it’s true that usually the hardest thing and the right thing are the same. If you are able to be true to yourself, then it’s easy to see the good that comes from the bad.