“Everybody’s path is different so it’s hard to compare”
I wrote that quote in 2016 during my rookie year. I was going through a big transitional phase in my life. I was in Malaysia, thousands of miles away from home for the first time. I spent a lot of time alone and during this time I was able to learn a lot about myself. It was during this time that I had an epiphany that the route to success that I’m on is my personal journey to my personal success. Growing up as a competitive athlete, I naturally compared myself to others even when I didn’t mean to. When they started ranking players in high school, you’d have this target on you where you’re automatically signed up to be compared to the next man. I spent a lot of time in high school on the recruiting sites looking at rankings. I always wanted to know what the guy ahead of me was doing so I could compare myself or make it clear I should be in that spot because I know I’m better. Fast forward to the end of my senior year in college, I was still stuck in that same mindset even if I thought I had outgrown it. My thoughts on becoming a pro were “That guy got a job and I know i’m better than him, so I’ll be just fine”. I would soon be humbled when summer came around and the job opportunities were very scarce. I spent a lot of time wondering why teams would give other guys a chance and not me. That’s when I would be taught my first lesson about the politics of this business. Sometimes it’s just about who you know and perfect timing. Then I finally did get an opportunity, based on who my agent knew and the timing of the situation. Even with this blessing falling in my lap, I spent time looking at other guy’s situations and wondered why I wasn’t in their shoes. I wasn’t ungrateful, I just have had this mindset hammered into my subconscious to where it happens naturally.
Sometime during the season, I was sitting in my room watching another team in my league play a game. I don’t know why, but during the game that’s where the epiphany hit me. Nothing else in the world matters except what’s going on in this league. Me complaining won’t help me score any points. Just because I feel I deserve to be in a better league doesn’t mean every team I play will automatically let me win.They guy that I think I’m better than is playing in another league in another country and nothing that he is doing is gong to help me win my games. That random moment changed my life forever and shifted my perception. I was able to fully embrace my journey from there on out because I knew it was mine. I took pride in owning it and realizing no one else could have it. There is no one exact route to anything, or else everyone would be equally successful in the world at the same time. The next man’s path may look nice, but that is his own. I can use it as motivation but I can never be him. My advice to anyone reading this is to simply embrace your own. Embrace the good times as well as the bad, every achievement and every obstacle. If you spend too much time focusing on where someone else is going ,how will you be able to follow the directions of your own journey?
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