Sport Changes Life provided me with a once in a lifetime opportunity to come to Ireland and have a positive impact on the people around me. I’m someone who has always been passionate about investing time into others. Both my parents and my college coach taught me the importance of valuing relationships in your life. I believe that loving friends and family comes before anything else. During those winter months when things weren’t quite clicking I realized that I couldn’t be a great teammate, student, or coach if I was struggling internally. For the first time in my life I spent time diving inward.
I decided to start my mornings by making a list of things I could do that day to better myself. I found that too many times I used procrastination as a crutch and laziness as an excuse.
“I’ll respond to that email tomorrow”
“I should read more but I don’t have the time”
“I’ll look start looking for jobs next week”
The list helped me combat that mindset. I say combat instead of change because it’s something that I am still working on every day. It’s human nature to choose the path that provides immediate gratification. As our society evolves we’ve found more ways to simplify that process. It’s easier to order food than buy groceries and cook, but the latter makes more economic sense and makes it easier to eat healthy. Corporations know this – it’s why services like GrubHub, Postmates, and UberEats are transforming food delivery service. We are slaves to social media because mobile phones have brought it our fingertips. Seeing that someone likes your tweet or Instagram post provides a little hit of dopamine that cost almost no effort. It’s why we get addicted and keep coming back for more. I am as guilty as any.
In striving to better myself I decided to spend less time settling for immediate gratification and more energy pursuing things I knew would provide long-term benefit. I tried to replace the procrastinators mindset of “How much time do I have until this assignment is due” with the more productive outlook of “How quickly can I get this project done and submitted”. I began limiting my time spent on social media, making time to read every night before bed, and stretching when I got home from basketball practice. I began to cook, trying to make a new dish every week. I started taking pictures and learning how to edit them using Photoshop.
I also decided to give guitar another shot instead of waiting until I got back to America. Why put it off? I had the time and I know that it would be a skill I would use for the rest of my life if I could make time to learn. The list of excuses were long: it would be difficult to sign up for lessons, find a guitar to practice on, and come up with the funds to make it all happen in the first place. I tried to ignore the reasons why I couldn’t do it and focus on the opportunity I had to take guitar lessons with an Irish teacher. How cool would that be?
On December 5th I put it on my list to find out where I could take lessons in Sligo and sign up. It’s a small town, so I figured by reaching out to a few people involved with the club that they’d be able to recommend someone. One of the people I texted was Lisa Garrett, who has basically been my Mom since I’ve moved here (or, me Mum). Her family has provided me with a home away from home. I’d met her husband, Glenn, several times over Sunday dinner but I didn’t know much about what he did for a living. When I asked Lisa if she knew anyone that could teach me guitar she thought I was takin’ a piss (the Irish way to say you’re joking). Turns out Glenn spent much of his career as a session musician and currently teaches to guitar to kids all around Sligo. He agreed to give me a few lessons in exchange for basketball lessons for his son, Finn. He hooked me up with a guitar to practice with and we agreed to start lessons after the New Year. Never in my life did I think that all those hours developing my basketball skills would provide me with an opportunity to learn an instrument. Some things are meant to be.
Three months later and I’m still developing this new skill. Each morning I put it on my list to practice every day. Progress has been frustratingly slow, but I’m getting there. It took me years and years of practice to excel at basketball and I expect it’ll take the same commitment to learn guitar. I’m not sure there has been any immediate gratification yet. Definitely not during the first few weeks when my fingertips were raw and blistering. But, it’s given me a project. Something to work on little by little every day. A way to better myself.
Things turned a corner for me in the past month. Part of it was that I just needed more time to adjust to life abroad, and find the peace in solidarity. Sligo is home for me now. It will always have a special place in my heart and the people I’ve met here I plan to know my whole life. I also think that making daily goals forced me to invest time in myself, something that has made me a more complete individual.
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Two of my fellow Scholars have had a big influence on this two part blog post and it’s only fair I shout them out. The first is Mark Kilpatrick. Over the Belfast Classic we were catching up and he told me he’d been learning guitar after borrowing a spare one from the music department at Ulster University. It was after this conversation that I asked myself why I wasn’t making an effort to learn as well. The second is Andrew Curiel. He is famous around the Sport Changes Life family for his “Win The Day” mentality. Each day he grades himself with a W or an L depending on how much time he’s spent doing things he feels are fulfilling and how many people he’s impacted. Every week he shoots for 7 wins and 0 losses. It’s like a basketball game for him, except he’s competing against himself to be the best possible person. The energy that he brings to every day inspired “The List” that I make every morning.
Sport Changes Life recruits some exceptional people to participate in their Victory Scholar program. I’ve learned things from each of them and I can only hope they can say the same about me.
