WHO IS YOUR HERO ? Chase the hero in yourself
I will never forget when I would be asked the famous question when I was a kid, what do you want to become when you grow up. I always said and without one frame of hesitation Professional Soccer Player.but the question “who is your hero” always had me questioning myself because indeed I did have players and heroes that I idolized and had their posters in my room. but one part of me wanted to be better than them, my hero was always the me I was chasing.
Down the line, chasing the dream, I’ve came to realization that the journey is more important than the destination. that means that I gave myself a challenge to chase my hero, which is the kid in me with all this dreams and fantasy of a famous soccer player with all the applauds, the love, the acclamation, the fame and everything that goes with that lifestyle.
Even though, sometimes when it didn’t go my way, and for whatever reason, I thought I couldn’t chase that me anymore, I lost the meaning of life.
After being released from my first pro contract, I stopped training for a little bit, I stopped acting and being an athlete.I stopped being me. You probably sit down sometimes and think to yourself , this is not me . well thats how i was feeling. I was though still around soccer with coaching, but I felt I wasn’t chasing my dream anymore which made me feel like I wasn’t living anymore. my life was based on going to training in the morning, then going to coach in the afternoon, I loved that life. I was doing exactly everything I wanted and what brought happiness to me the most. but as soon as I felt like playing was taken away from me, coaching became dull. I had no motivation whatsoever to do it, even though I loved it. it’s like it came in a package, and playing had to be in it, especially for now because every morning my heart still pumps for it.
At 23 years, old, I knew I could still bring something to the table. I felt I was mature and even more physically and mentally ready. I knew I couldn’t end it this way.
The funny part, the way it works in this sport, one day you are here, the next day you are in another continent with a new language to learn and a new environment to settle in. I wish y’all knew the feeling you get when you take off in the plane and you don’t even know where you are going , what to expect. you just risk it all and go for the unknown because that’s where the adventure and happiness is at. you don’t know what you are going to get into but you just jump and wish for the best. Ask yourself a question, what worst that can happen, a new experience and adventure, I’ll take that any day over a life where you wake up and you know exactly how the day will go.
Everything happens for a reason, and when I was least expecting it, I received a call to go to overseas , I didn’t think twice, it was an opportunity to play, that’s all I wanted, I took it, left everything behind, and I have done it before, so I wasn’t new to the jump, I knew that kind of sacrifice.
When I landed in this new country, I was relieved, even though it was different from where I was, I had relationship and friendships , family and people like family that you shared everything with, coaching, a good and settled life I was enjoying, but there wasn’t that kid chasing his dream, I felt I wasn’t living anymore because that was the most important thing, chasing that kid with all this dreams down the line.
Funny how the first month in my new home , the highlight of my day would be going in to training getting ready for the season to start. I was getting everything i needed especially the the most significant one to it which is playing , even though I was still trying to get familiar with a new environment and one part of me wish I had something to do the whole day, as I mentioned before, whether its hanging out with my friends, coaching or anything I sacrificed back where I was comfortable, I was still happy because I knew I was chasing that kid with those dreams of playing and I was doing it everyday. see this is when sacrifice kicks in, if you want something, you will go and get it, no excuses, you will sacrifice what you have. even if it means the impossible, you will sacrifice everything because it means everything to you. so, when I hear people telling me I want to do this and that and then they find excuses, it just means they don’t want it bad enough and it doesn’t mean much to them. Their hearts doesn’t pump for it and that answers all you question. You gotta look at yourself in the mirror and be honest with yourself if you did try it all.
What most won’t never understand, chasing that dream will take you places you would never thought you’d get to see. that dream might become reality, or it won’t and its okay if it doesn’t because down the line your dream might change, therefore the chase of it is the more important than the dream itself, because the chase is in the present, you live for the moment and for the now, and the now has the most important things which happiness, love and life. you can’t be not enjoying today and saying, I will be happy tomorrow or next week or next month or next year, or I will love you in 2 years, those happen in the present and they vital to our happiness.
Every soccer player’s ultimate dream is to play for a big club in Europe such as real Madrid, FC Barcelona. Manchester united and represent their country at the highest stage to name the best of it the world cup. So, if you didn’t get to play for this teams or never reached the level you wanted but you ended playing a decent career in Asia or America or mid table teams, where you got paid to do what you love doesn’t matter the team, that doesn’t mean you didn’t chase your dreams because at the end of the day you did and you won’t lose sleep over it , I can guarantee you that. It’s all about the journey . Without the chase, the dream will never become reality.
Funny how we are too focused on the prize, that usually we forget to appreciate the small things that are making us live to the fullest everyday. “You don’t know what you have until you lose it, be grateful”. this is one of my favorite quotes because indeed as human beings we tend to be ungrateful sometimes, and when we lose what was meaning a lot to us, then we appreciate it more when its gone and we make sure it’s a learning experience towards the next adventure that we won’t take for granted…