By: Harish Ravichandran and Rayna Annamraju
What happens when something you have done all of your life isn’t what you love anymore? What happens when you decide to go in a new direction? Sometimes people who enjoy something come to a point in their lives when they decide that isn’t exactly what they want. They decide to move on, to try something new. The big question: Why?
My name is Rayna. My entire life I’ve been a dancer. I can barely remember my first dance class. I was only five years old and I fell in love with the movement and creativity. I stuck with dance after that not only because I enjoyed the physical aspect of dance, but also because of the friends I made in the studio. Alongside dance, I participated in soccer, basketball, and every school sport I could be a part of. I loved the feeling of being a part of a team and the competitive spirit that comes with it. That was until my first year of middle school when I decided to go a whole new direction.
Oftentimes there is a certain point in an athlete’s career where they really have to ask themselves if this is what they want to do forever. I reached that point at the beginning of my 6th-grade year when I was spending most of my time outside of school dancing. I was at the studio four times a week, taking five different classes, and occasionally coming on weekends for optional classes; It was my life. Besides the physical dancing, there were other things that made it special to me. I had been there since I was five and had a whole community of incredible people. I had genuine connections with all the people I was surrounded by. However, all of this time was only spent on improving our skills and then eventually getting ready for an annual end of year recital. Although I loved dancing I wasn’t crazy about the idea of spending the necessary time preparing for much more serious competitions. For a while, I had been able to put off the conversation about joining the competitive team but eventually, I had to face it.
At this point dancing for enjoyment just wasn’t enough. The studio I danced for was merging with a much more competitive one. I had spent a lot of time practicing and the only way I could continue to improve was to join the competition team. I had a big decision to make. I knew that I didn’t just want to join the team and then quit a few years later. I understood that this would mean that I would have to spend the next 6 years working extremely hard. Although I liked the idea of being able to dance I wasn’t sure if it was what I was meant to do. To others, it seemed like a simple choice within a small extracurricular activity. However, for me, it felt much more important. I pondered it for a while and eventually, I decided it wasn’t something I wanted anymore. I wanted to be free to participate in other activities and learn more about what I excel at. Since then I’ve been able to take up music and art lessons. I do still love to dance, but I also love being able to explore all of the different activities the world has to offer.
The main takeaway from Rayna’s story is that the competition that comes with being an athlete dragged her away from her passion but gave her the opportunity to discover her own talents that she never would have pursued while continuing being a dancer. For me, Harish, the constant effort required for sports took away my passion to play entirely. Here’s why.
Although this may have been my experience, not every athlete is the same. The competition that comes with being an athlete dragged me away from my passion but gave me the opportunity to discover my own talents that I would have never pursued while continuing to be a dancer. However, for fellow athlete Harish the constant efforts required for sports took away his passion entirely. Here’s why.
Following the exciting play of the 2016 NBA Finals between Golden State and Cleveland, I began to completely devote myself to the game of basketball. The mass fandom in my hometown brought the community together and drew my eyes to some of the best entertainment I had ever seen. Playing pick-up at the local school became one of my favorite things to do, and watching the NBA in the evening made every game day worthwhile. I collected jerseys and other memorabilia to lock myself in the fandom, but slowly lost passion for the competitive aspect of playing basketball and being an athlete. Here’s why.
It started with small things. To give some background, I started at center for my middle school team, and then played for separate competitive teams on the weekend. This essentially became how I defined myself at the time to both my friends and my family: as an athlete. This passion swallowed up my time and it also left me satisfied with my effort to the sport. However, heading into my freshman year of high school I realized that there was more to a sport than the constant repetitions of practice and playing a game.
The constant drawbacks of sports stacked up on me. Injuries, tiredness, and losing precious time to fulfill my other interests were some of the problems to name a few. With the pressure of succeeding academically in high school being emphasized more and more, I decided to slowly pull back from my interest in being an athlete to split my time within different aspects of life. I still am a fan of the game, but the commitment of being an athlete had taken away from the extracurriculars that I could not pursue. I wanted to explore these different interests that I had, which I was oblivious to when I was locked on playing basketball.
I found out that I enjoyed volunteering above all things and began to search for ways to contribute back to my community. As a result, I discovered that volunteering could be combined with my other interests! I began volunteering at college sporting events which combined my interest in community service with being a fan of the game, concluding my story of being an athlete. I still love the sport, but to me there was just so much room to grow from just playing it to making an impact on what I enjoy.
Prior to being recommended to Spotivity, finding activities that fit our interests was a difficult task. Spotivity has made it easy for us to explore our interests and allows us to pursue them with the pocket genie tool which has helped personalize our future. Join Spotivity today and pursue your passions!
About Spotivity
Be #neverbored again by using the spotivity app and find activities that fit your needs. We help you find programing that can lead to your passion. Whether that is an art program to practice graffiti, a sports program to engage in competition, an education support class to improve your grades, or just finding someone to talk to – spotivity has your back. Backed by research and continually informed by users, spotivity is the tool to help you unlock your world and expand the list of options you can take advantage of.
