I never wanted this to happen. I always thought I was so unique and different, someone with so many quirks that I could never end up part of the pack. Sure I wear J.Crew and technical outerwear every day like all New Englanders, but I really have always thought I was a strange cookie in many ways, too.
I'm not. I am just like everyone else.
When we graduate from college, many of us with a background in college athletics at private institutions tend a certain direction. It is not unique, it is not different. It is formulaic and understandable and a large majority of us fall easily and happily right into it.
We start training for marathons and add country music to our interests.
I get the marathon bit: college athletes worked the equivalent of an additional full-time job to keep up with our sports over four years. Between morning and afternoon practices, lifting weights, and competitions, we really were used to putting in well over 30 hours a week in athletic pursuits. Marathons easily fill a goal-setting void that we need to maintain sanity. I really run for the mental health side, knowing how gristly and unpleasant I can be without my run (take today, for example, watch out co-workers!). I run 5 days a week because I need something to do that makes my body hurt, scream, and hate me day after day. What's the point of life if your muscles and tendons don't want you dead on a regular basis?
The country music on the other hand... WHAT?! I hated country music, with a passion. That twangy, whiny tone just couldn't do it for me. I went to Nashville the summer after I graduated from college and had to stop listening to the world around me to avoid talents like Lady Antebellum. Now I radio seek through rural Vermont stations until I FIND a country station. I listen to country hits on Songza. I have even DOWNLOADED some of these songs. And I'm fine with that. I like it. I'd go to a concert for the right artist!
So, we all grow up, we all change, and apparently, those of us born in the late 1980s all end up the same. Breaking down our knees and getting country. I would say I'm not proud, but I guess really I'm not not proud...
I'm not. I am just like everyone else.
When we graduate from college, many of us with a background in college athletics at private institutions tend a certain direction. It is not unique, it is not different. It is formulaic and understandable and a large majority of us fall easily and happily right into it.
We start training for marathons and add country music to our interests.
I get the marathon bit: college athletes worked the equivalent of an additional full-time job to keep up with our sports over four years. Between morning and afternoon practices, lifting weights, and competitions, we really were used to putting in well over 30 hours a week in athletic pursuits. Marathons easily fill a goal-setting void that we need to maintain sanity. I really run for the mental health side, knowing how gristly and unpleasant I can be without my run (take today, for example, watch out co-workers!). I run 5 days a week because I need something to do that makes my body hurt, scream, and hate me day after day. What's the point of life if your muscles and tendons don't want you dead on a regular basis?
The country music on the other hand... WHAT?! I hated country music, with a passion. That twangy, whiny tone just couldn't do it for me. I went to Nashville the summer after I graduated from college and had to stop listening to the world around me to avoid talents like Lady Antebellum. Now I radio seek through rural Vermont stations until I FIND a country station. I listen to country hits on Songza. I have even DOWNLOADED some of these songs. And I'm fine with that. I like it. I'd go to a concert for the right artist!
So, we all grow up, we all change, and apparently, those of us born in the late 1980s all end up the same. Breaking down our knees and getting country. I would say I'm not proud, but I guess really I'm not not proud...
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