Choosing Joy

As life continues to speed up for all of us, it is easy to get caught up in our work or school. It’s easy to be negative and complain about some of the more challenging parts of our day. Life is hard, and we often make it even harder on ourselves.

Over this past year, I got a great piece of advice from a mentor of mine that changed my perception of what I can control in my life. At the time, my performance on the football field was lacking consistency, and I was becoming aware that frustration was affecting aspects of my life. So, I reached out for some advice for dealing with anger and frustration while on the field.

My mentor had a long a successful career at Ball State a little over ten years ago. His advice was simple: Choose joy. He made me realize that I was too worried to make a mistake. That my own wants to have a bigger role as a player was getting in the way of my pure enjoyment of the game.

It made me think about the ten-year-old me, who could not wait to put the pads on in 100-degree heat or get to play in the rain or snow. I lost sight of why I started playing in the first place, and how lucky I was to still be playing. I knew I had to make this change if I wanted to make the most out of the time I still had left.?

Once I returned to the field, I just focused on having fun. I started stacking better reps and eventually, I was playing better than ever before. I was able to achieve a flow state while playing. Football became what it once was: a release. It was therapeutic again and brought balance and peace back into my life.?

I think this story applies to everyone because everyone gets too caught up in life. Occasionally, we need to step back from it all and remind ourselves that we are in control of how we perceive what surrounds us. Why not choose joy?