By Brianna Vettese | #5
Nobody goes through life feeling positive or happy 100% of the time. We all have our low moments and we all lose our way occasionally. In life, challenging and hard times are bound to happen but the thing about life is that it is your life and you get to choose how you want to live it. You can’t control everything that happens but you can control how you react, you can make the choice to be happy, you can make the choice to work hard, and you can choose what you want to be about every morning as you wake up. Life can be scary and tough; yet, at the same time so magical and full of endless possibilities. Life will knock you down, so how will you respond? If you get lost at times, how will you get back on track? I am going to tell you a little story of the time I lost myself but found my way back with the help of this one sport that my 12 year old self fell in love with.
It all started with this little girl who grew up watching her dad play volleyball; she was so fascinated by how fun and thrilling it looked. She tried it out herself and instantly fell in love with the game. As this little girl got older, her love for the game only grew stronger. But that little girl that fell in love with the game never truly knew why. She knew that she loved the game, that she loved competing, that she loved winning but it wasn’t until she got a little lost later in life where she realized so much more.
My senior year in high school, I was given the opportunity to play volleyball here at UW-Oshkosh. I was so stoked. I couldn’t believe it. I was full of excitement and I couldn’t wait for summer break to end — I know, a weird thought to have right?! But I couldn’t wait to be at UWO and start to play the sport I love at the next level. However, college hit me harder than expected. It was different and not in a bad way, just different. Everything I had once been so familiar with was all of the sudden so new. The who, what, and where all changed for me. I tried to ignore my feelings and all these changes I was experiencing but I simply could not just push them under the rug. I struggled a bit to adjust and I started to sense myself changing as all these other things around me changed. I started to lose a sense of who I was and the sight of who I wanted to become.
I knew I had to get back on track somehow. But how? Well for me, it started with mentors. It wasn’t until a teammate held me accountable that I knew I had to hold myself accountable too. It didn’t seem like a big change but that single moment was the start of everything to come. Sometimes it only takes one person or one little thing to help get you on the right path again. I started to take control of my own life and change how I thought about things. I focused more on the controllables. I surrounded myself with good people. I grew in my faith.
But two things that really helped me get back on track were:
- Finding my why
- Realizing how precious life is
and those two things both came through volleyball.
First my why. Finding my why didn't come overnight. It took almost a year to develop and it is still constantly evolving across time and space. But if it wasn’t for uwovb, my teammates and my coaches, I probably would have never even thought to chase my why. In our program, we talk about our why a lot and our coaches orchestrate great conversations about how it’s important to find our why. Once you find that reason, it will light a fire under everything you do. It will inspire you to rise again after falling and to push harder. To get up every morning and put in the extra work. To always find a way. It will never allow you to give up. You will still have hard times and struggle but you will never stay there. So find that reason. Find your why.
Secondly, realizing how precious each moment is has helped me to see the light. It’s about the little things and it’s about appreciating all the simple treasures in life. Be thankful for every waking moment, for every opportunity, for every situation. See the good in all things. As I took a moment last year to reflect on my freshman volleyball season, I began to realize that it really is all the little things in life that matter most. Sometimes, we take for granted all those little things and never realize how much they truly help us. The moments I had reminiscing on the fun bus rides, the nights we stayed in hotels, the moments of laughter and joy all helped me get back on track because I wanted to be able to be present for all those things. To live in the moment. Life gives you amazing friendships and families and I found both of those with my team here at UWO.
Life is short so don’t take anything for granted. Don’t wait until tomorrow to workout, don’t wait until tomorrow to eat right, don’t wait until tomorrow to do an act of kindness; do it now because tomorrow isn’t promised. Volleyball helped me to see these things because as a team, we always talk about how we better give it all we got today because we never know when our last time stepping out on that court could be. Each day, hour, minute, second of your life is a blessing. Be thankful. Be grateful. We only get one life, so how will you live yours?
That little girl who fell in love with the game of volleyball never thought nor could have imagined where she would be today. That little girl who once just thought it was all about winning and losing learned it was a whole lot more.
Remember, it’s okay to get lost. Sometimes, you need to get lost in order to find yourself and learn. Being a little lost and having low moments is when the light can shine so brightly.
Aristotle once said “it is in our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light”. Continue to grow, continue to see and do good, be kind and love this crazy thing called life…and of course, volleyball too.
