#athlete

Only if you really, really love it. You will meet some of the best people in the world, but it's pretty brutal. You will get injured, you won't always heal from those injuries - a lot of them will heal initially and then flare up as you get older and your body less forgiving. The turnover is high - you'll be an athlete until you're in your mid-20s (if you're good enough) and then you've got to adapt. It's not as easy as saying "okay, I'll coach" because coaching is a skillset. Good players don't make good coaches, a lot of the time, they're too competitive. And there's a lot more ex-players looking for jobs than there are actual players 😂

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So if you love it, and if you get in young, yes. Absolutely. It can be so awesome.

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If you're not already involved in sport, no. Not worth it. There's no job security unless you stay top of your game (be that in coaching, management, playing) so you have to keep going.

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No, god. You know as a kid you're meant to have milestones and everyone gets super excited? It's all "Oh my god, Tommy learnt to walk at this many months and to read at this many months!" and blah blah blah?

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I didn't DO that. I hit the ground RUNNING. And I mean that literally. Fundamental milestones, I hit them so hard and so early that people thought I was a prodigy. Some kind of child genius. I was a top athlete, pretty excellent academic, and I could use a washing machine.

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But yknow what happens when you're that much of a high achiever, that young? Burnout. And you will just have YEARS where you achieve nothing else. You become the kid (adult, bite me) that people mention to your grandparents. They say "Wasn't Tea really good at A,B,C?" And your grandparents will quickly have to deflect onto another grandchild. It's a whole thing.

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So no, I am not patient. I do not like waiting at pedestrian crossings because I think I will DIE of boredom. I can't be assed to deal with guys going down on me for the same reason. What can ya do, yknow?

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It truly depends on what you’re comfortable with, and which one would suit you best. What I mean by that is, depending on your lifestyle, pads specifically, can be quite inconvenient.

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An example would be, if you’re an athlete, a swimmer, a gymnast, etc… Tampons would be the most logical choice for you.

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It is important to note though, that pads are significantly easier to start out with than tampons, as you have to learn how to use tampons properly, first.

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Personally, I have tried both, and I almost always prefer pads. But I’m also not super physically active, and they are just more comfortable for me.

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I wear the Always Maxi pads! There are a few different types, like ultra thin, super absorbency, with/without wings, etc… And I can’t really recommend a certain type just because that is something you have to test out and see what works best for you!

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I really hope that helps a little, and that you are successful in finding the right thing for you! 😄

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Now, usually, I would claim that my parents have done an absolutely splendid job, that I am the light of their (enormously seperate) lives, etc, etc.

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However, there are some teensie weensie things that I'd have changed - Because I have grown into a compete athlete with crippling anxiety, and THAT makes for a very interesting mixture.

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So I would not have let me compete at such a high level so early, it did me no favours and definitely contributed to burnout. If it had been at junior level, absolutely, but this was travelling to adult tournaments, with adults, as a very vulnerable 14-year-old. At the time I thought I was super grown up. Now, I just think it was a time bomb.

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I also would have liked it if they'd stepped in when I got into an adult relationship (also as a child.) Nobody said "are you sure" or "are you okay" at any stage, and I was covering up bruises and breaks and all sorts. It took well over a year before I could ask for help.

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Anddd that's probably it, to be honest. I'd have appreciated it if my mother had let me keep my surname instead of changing it 600000 times, but c'est la vie.

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Ohh, that's a good one!! I don't know how much is mental energy and how much is maturing (and only investing time in the things that matter?) But I have made a LIST because I love a list.

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• Fighting for causes that aren't mine. Because a) literally don't have time and b) I probs did more harm than good, in all honesty.
• Micromanaging every little thing that I eat. I could do it when I was a full-time athlete, I cannot do it as a full-time adult. Haven't got time.
• Caring about what so-and-so is doing. I don't know if it's super ignorant of me to not really care about politics, but I can't impact it on the day to day so I'm just going to mind my own business.
• In the same vein, celebrities! Haven't got a clue what they're up to anymore. Hope they're having fun.
• Being the "good" sibling. I was always the bad sibling, but I have now fully embraced it.
• Aaaand in the same vein (again!) Competing with other people. And I 10000% HAD to do this as a teenager/young(er) adult, because it was my job. Now I still care if you're training harder/getting better results/getting the good sponsors etc, but not enough to break my entire body again.

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Being human is a full-time job, my dude. We're like super demanding houseplants.

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Remember that your true potential is unlimited and you should strive for the highest expression of yourself as possible. Everything ends. The only way to combat that dreadfully sorrowful inevitability, is to make good memories. Go out, and make good memories. Love isn't real, it's a chemical reaction in the brain, that others can and will use to take advantage of you. Protect yourself at all costs.
No one really gives a fuck, they too busy caring about themselves and looking after their own lives, and even if they do it doesn't really change anything. Life has a shite ton of suffering, and most people will not understand your struggles. Nothing is coming to save you, not jesus, gods, the list goes on. you are your own savior, yes it sounds cheesy but its very true. also, our dreams/desires don't always work out, but it may show you a new better path.
It is almost impossible to thrive if you continuously surround yourself with bad people. Don't try to fix relationships that you didn't have to start and that you'd better end long time ago.
No matter what you do or who you are, nothing will go to plan. Vacations, jobs, whatever. That's where the fun is in life.
If you’re working towards it, give it time. Nothing is instant and you can’t stress your way throughlife. That’s not a way to live.
Being a failure is still better than being a quitter.
You are wrong a lot of the time. Try to get out of your own head and listen to other people. What you are experiencing is only a version of reality filtered in your own mind. Life can be so different (and better) if you change perspective and actively create your new self.
There are exactly two types of people. Those who are good, and those who are rewarded for being good. You cannot just surround yourself with people that reinforce your echo chamber. You have to listen to people and challenge your own points of views. Play devil's advocate on everything. Ask yourself why you feel the ways that you feel. You cannot connect with people and maintain those connections if you do NOT quiet your own thoughts and consider others.
Enjoy everything while it lasts and never stop dreaming. You’ll never get those moments back,
There's really no point in doing anything in life, because it's all over in the blink of an eye. We could wake up tomorrow, and could all go to hell. There will probably always, to some extent, be that feeling, this could all end tomorrow.
As an athlete you rely on the health of your body, and as we all know, that can stop from one moment to the next.
That life doesn't matter you have make it matter for yourself.
Just because you love someone doesn't mean they are going to treat you right.

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In coaching we work with the sandwich principle, and as somebody who hates criticising people I find it invaluable. (Thing I should say: "No, oh my god, please don't lunge like that you will do SO MUCH LIGAMENT DAMAGE." Thing I say: "Not bad I guess.")

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Basically you praise one thing "The way you reached that shot early was brilliant" then the criticism "but make sure you don't let your knee go over the ankle on that lunge" and then another piece of positive feedback "Good recovery on getting back to base."

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So the athlete comes away with a positive feeling about the interaction, but still has that teaching point. It keeps enthusiasm up, builds the rapport between you and your player, builds trust - all good things, yknow?

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It works to a point! If you've got athletes you've been coaching for 10+ years then I feel I'm within my rights to say "the fuck was that shot, oh my god."

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Long Answer: I recently started developing a crush that would never work out (First crush in almost 4 years, what a disaster). Also been thinking recently I might be autistic and that's kinda weighing on me as well. On top of this I have 2 exams coming up that I'm nowhere near prepared for. Couple that with my crippling fear of failure (to the point where I'm scared to ask someone how to use a new printer and have to hide in a toilet cubicle and end up having a panic attack in there.. over a fucking printer). Oh and the 30 or so rejections for part time jobs I've had in the last 5 or 6 months - I spent 3 years volunteering and as much as I would have loved to continue that I couldn't continue to give my time to unpaid work whilst barely having enough money for 3 meals a day as a student. I have a habit of over-thinking so whenever I feel down I stop to make sure I gather every reason why I'm sad and overwhelm myself with it, I always seem to fly to emotional extremes. Not being able to see my youngest granddaughter. Her mom is....terrible and we don't have contact. I can't even legally do anything because I am not actually blood related, but no matter what anyone says she is my granddaughter. I just hope her mom does not mess her up too much. I just wish I could see her.
I want to be an entrepreneur and novelist. Bottomline, I want a freedom, but I'm not sure yet if that's what I really want. Because in the past years I've been changing course from wanting to be a detective, a musician, an athlete, aaand more.
Plus, entrepreneur and writer are two hard things in my country. Entrepreneurs are started to be appreciated because the boom in tech startups and society has experienced the benefits from it. But writer? People labelled it as an underpaid job, some could even say "how will you feed your family?" if I'd say I'll be a writer. I know, a successful writer will get paid a lot. There are examples in my country for successful writers. But then, there are only few percentages of them. Plus, reading is not a big thing here. What's big here is when you are a person of high position in a company, or if you have a shitton of salary.
I have empathy for homeless people too. I acknowledge that often times they end up homeless from multiple circumstances that aren't always their fault. People assume all homeless people chose to be. It's not like that... unfortunate things happened to them. Now animals they are adopted/raised by their owner. It's no different than a homeless toddler. They're a near helpless product of their owners environment and they have no choice but to suffer with them unless they run off....

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My dude, no one exercises through a torn ACL, collapsed VMOs, knackered meniscus and multiple counts of RSI, cracked ribs and bone breaks because they're having a really good time or that medal is so important. That's just what they tell themselves 😂

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And, actually, sometimes it's what the coaches/management are saying as well. It is one of the chronically toxic elements of professional sport and I'd say we're only starting to see it highlighted as a problem now. That's largely due to Simone Biles withdrawing from the Olympics, documentaries like Athlete A - the archaic attitude of "no pain, no gain" still rules the world of sport, and 99% of athletes genuinely believe it to be true. We exchange stories of injuries with a kind of ego and masochism that is frankly stupid. If you aren't fighting to get back at it as soon as you humanly can, you aren't trying hard enough. It's a dangerous world to grow up in 🤷‍♀️

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It's horrendous, and that's bearing in mind that I'm an athlete and 23 - I got to the point where it was "we'll give it an hour and if there's no change then we're calling an ambulance" but I wasn't hospitalised.
It took me 5 weeks to feel something like normal again and I honestly remember very little of those 5 weeks 😂 Like you say, you're tired and weak but it's the feeling of not being able to breathe and coughing up your lungs that gets really scary by the end of it. You don't sleep more than an hour at a time because you'll cough yourself awake and stay awake for hours, so by the end you're just exhausted and run out of fight. There's no appetite and everything aches. So bundle of giggles 😂

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What's kind of weird is that it's 12 weeks later and I'm still exhausted? Like, yes I can get back to the three hour workouts but I'll be asleep by 8pm. There's no resilience left, it's really odd.

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So not great, but not awful! Like I said, though, I was almost hospitalised but wasn't so it was still a mild-ish case.

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Do not believe the astrologist for starters. It is the belief that is making you sad, and believing that is martyrdom (sacrificing your life). You are choosing to sacrifice your dreams because an astrologist told you something?
Not even the astrologer knows if what they told you is true. How could they? Astrologers rely on their own beliefs in astrological systems that other humans (imperfect) created at some point in the recent or distant past. Different astrologers will tell you different things because they believe different things and it is made up and interpreted by human beings, and we make mistakes and create false beliefs all the time. Only believe in astrology if GOD shows up in front of you and explains how the stars and planets and your birth date and time mean something to your job prospects. Instead of believing in some astrologer, focus on developing your skills, your personality, your resume, your appearance, and build contacts and relationships, and if you want to get a job in government, go for it, work for it, and keep trying. If you are smart and qualified, you deserve a chance to succeed. Not everyone who wants a job in government gets one, just like everyone who wants to win the lottery or become President or be a professional athlete achieves their dream, but you have to try if you want to achieve your dream. Don’t let an astrologer’s words stand in your way.
Shape your own destiny. Exercise, eat well, do yoga, meditate, learn everything there is to know about the job you want, get the qualifications needed, and keep trying. You are free to pursue your dreams.

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