Have you ever played a sport? One that required teamwork and perseverance in order to do well. When playing on that team, did you ever take over for a more experienced player? That change is exactly what Jarod felt when he moved from junior varsity to varsity for lacrosse. At the same time, he replaced the school’s star player, who had just graduated.
When Jarod joined the new team, he found that his fear of failure was constantly running through the back of his mind. “The fear of failing with everyone’s expectations kind of got inside my head,” Jarod said.
“I think at first [people’s] expectations pushed me to get better and perform better,” he said. “But as I started thinking, and I thought I wasn’t performing the way that I was expected to, that is when I let the fear of letting people down get to me.”
Jarod kept on playing throughout the rest of the year. He said he didn’t want to quit in the middle of the season because his teammates relied on him, but part of the reason was also a fear of quitting. In the next year, he played rugby and injured his shoulder, which prevented him from returning to lacrosse.
Jarod never went back to lacrosse and feels a sense of relief at not having gone back in his senior year. However, If he could go back in time to change what happened, he would.
“I would just not care about the pressure, the expectations. Every time I messed up, I wouldn’t let that get to me. I would ask more questions and practice and work harder.”
Jarod is grateful for his experience on the lacrosse team. He learned more about himself during his time on the team. One thing he learned is that “it doesn’t take too much courage to decide you want to get from point A to point B. But that entire time you’re going, the journey takes more courage. It takes more willpower and grit to get from where you went to where you want to be.”
Maybe, the best thing we can learn from Jarod is that when we encounter struggles and opportunities, we can focus on ways to be better without pressures from what people think affecting us. We can take our past experiences to change us for the future.
