You Are NOT Missing Out

I loved the whole experience of being an athlete. 

• as a kid, going to practice after school
• as a teenager, switching to a sports boarding school
• as a junior, starting traveling in Europe (I am from Germany) 
• and as a professional athlete, traveling the world, meeting lots of interesting people, celebrating success and recovering from setbacks.

Of course I had ups and downs, but looking back, all made sense and all was part of the journey. A wide spectrum of experience, which did not just impact my athletic career, but also has, and will form my ongoing life. 

One of the first questions I often got as an athlete was about the things I had to renounce in order to be successful. 

I rarely was looking, what I might have missed, I mostly saw and still see what I got. 

As a kid I met my friends to run around with them. As a teenager I saw the option to go to this really cool boarding school - if I would be able to ski and shoot very well (since my sport was Biathlon). From there, a whole new world opened up to me - if I continued to ski and shoot well. And once I got the chance to experience this world, I knew it's the world I want to live in.

I definitely have missed some parties, which I didn't actually realise until recently. In a WhatsApp group with my classmates were sent pictures, on which I mostly was missing, when there was a party involved. This doesn't mean I wasn't partying! No worries, athletes don't need to live a boring life, but I couldn't be everywhere, no one can. Would I have liked to be in those party pictures? Probably - But I liked even more, to be wherever I was, at the time my classmates celebrated being young. And it paid off. It if would have been for a party reason, I qualified for the ones, you can not just set up because of a sunny day, but the once you have at the end of a season, after the Olympics or World Championship races. I told you I partied - I even met my now husband on those.

So, the short answer to this question above is: No I did not miss out on anything. If you are aiming for athletic success, you also don't need to be worried about missing out in your young life. It is going to pay back, even not going to any Olympics. So far I never heard anyone saying it was a big mistake being an athlete when they were young, no matter how early the career ended or how successful they have been.

When you love your sport, do it with all of your heart and don't let anyone take away your joy, by telling you, you are missing out. YOU DON`T!

Do You HavDo You Have A Dream? Let´s Take The Next Step!