Boredom: How Athletics Ruined My Free Time

Like every athlete on this planet, I used to complain all the time about never having time to myself to do what I wanted and that I was too busy. This was especially the case in college, at the Division II level, our off-season often felt just as full as our in-season schedule.

What a normal weekday looked like for me in-season:

• 9am: Wake-up, eat breakfast, get ready for class
• 10am-12pm: Class
• 1pm: Head home, grab lunch, get ready for practice
• 1:30pm: Arrive at the locker room to change and get ready for lifting/practice
• 2-3pm: Lift
• 3-5pm: Practice
• 5:30pm: Get back home, shower and grab a snack
• 6-9pm: Head to the library to get homework done
• 9pm: Get back home for a late dinner, Netflix, then bed.

While you may not have lived at the library like I did, your schedule probably looked pretty similar. Especially in-season, free time doesn’t exist. On the rare occasions when we do have time off, we most likely spend it on the couch or with friends on the weekends. For years, free time was equivalent to rest.

With that mentality, I left athletics and was thrown into the pandemic. It goes without saying that the first few months of pandemic life back at home, I was really lost. My internship had been cut short (though I continued to do a little work for my boss) and I only had one class left to finish my degree. The only people I was able to see were my parents and sister, all who had work or school and minimal time to spend with me. I went through the motions of getting up early and starting my days, but simply had nothing to do. For a former student-athlete, that’s a death sentence.

You hear it all the time from classmates, that they write the best essays the night before they’re due. Similarly, student-athletes thrive at working under pressure. Whether it’s a close game, using the 30 minutes between class and practice to do homework or catching a power nap midday, we usually function best when we have zero time to ourselves (for better or for worse).

At the end of May, I was incredibly lucky to be offered a part-time position following the completion of my internship, especially since I was able to do it remotely. It’s kept me busy and given me purpose at a time when I was really lacking it.

Once I realized that I felt so much healthier and happier when I was busy doing things, I threw myself into what my sister lovingly calls “project mode”. Every day, I was doing projects – big or small – around the house. From sorting through all the stuff I brought home from college to cleaning up our old canoe, I was in. I started going to bed tired and waking up more excited for the days ahead.

Purpose means a lot different of things to different people. For me, it was nothing further than realizing that when I was busy and working hard at something, I was happy and the lost feeling I had come to know wasn’t around as much. Hard work was instilled in me by soccer. Even though I might not always love what I’m doing, the sense of pride when I work hard and achieve a desired result is incredibly fulfilling.  If you’re like me, you’ll still always put free time on a pedestal. That free time will just have to come sparingly and follow periods of hard work for it to actually feel good.