The other day I came to the realization that I really did miss playing soccer and running cross-country in high school… and no, it wasnt just because Ive put on a few pounds recently
Beyond just being in shape, playing sports is an incredible asset psychologically. I mean, think about it. Where else can you find 15-20 people who go out 5-6 times a week for the sole purpose of improving upon their self.
Today, I think it is something we take for granted. In sports, you push yourself constantly… to be better, faster, stronger, etc. But here in college, that challenge has changed to more one of survival, you know, just getting through a set of obstacles. Sure you are learning stuff, but unless you are one of the few people still fixated on making a 100% in every class… you arent really PUSHING yourself to get smarter, learn more, or solve problems more quickly.
In middle school, we did math a little differently than most. We had this thing called Kumon, where half the challenge was answering the problem correctly, and the other half was finishing it in a certain amount of time. Basically you would go through these levels of packets (usually 10 pages long or more), and each packet tested a new skill level… to move on, you had to finish each packet with a limited number of mistakes (usually less than 3), and in a limited amount of time (maybe 15-30 minutes). This was learning, but this was also a way to push myself to improve the way that I learned, and push myself to process better and faster.
Whether it be sports or academia, I really miss being in a group of people constantly and visibly pushing themselves diligently to be better people, academics, athletes, etc. I suppose I still have this in some form in church and in my fraternity… but in general, even these groups seem to be more endurance minded than overcoming minded.
I even find myself in the same position in many regards… I mean, and A starts at 90%, who cares if you get anything above that… and as long as I am better than most… why over-stress myself to be better than everyone. But you see, this is where my mindset went wrong. The thing that I loved about Cross Country (perhaps the only thing, lol), was that as much as it was a competition with other people, it was very strongly a competition you held with yourself… and that is something I miss.
I went to OU to chillax, and I really believe that is good and important for me… but I never intended to loose my desire for continual self improvement. I suppose a persons environment really does affect them after all.
I need to find an environment that really strongly promotes self-growth… not passively, but actively. That, or I need to develop some more will power to fight off my horrible tendancy to procrastinate, haha. Seriously though, I need to push myself more. There is a lot of really cool stuff I could be doing right now if I could just keep myself on point. The problem is, apparently I dont fly to well solo. Accountability is a bitch, but a necessary one.