Welcome back everyone!
I am learning first-hand how difficult it is to discontinue an activity you’ve participated in for a long time. As I’ve mentioned multiple times on this blog, I’m a cheerleader at my school and it’s my second year on the team. I also did competitive cheer for a year in middle school. Football season is now officially over, and I don’t plan on continuing cheer junior year (nothing’s set in stone yet- we still have basketball season and next year’s tryouts won’t be until March, but I’m 99% sure I won’t be doing it). Basketball season is a lot more lowkey, so I’m coming to terms with the fact that the bulk of my last cheer season is over.
Three years (and technically only two of my current team) may not sound like a lot, but these have been the most impactful years of my life so far and a lot of my time has been spent doing cheer, so it makes sense that it actually would’ve had a huge impact on me. Going into high school, I felt like being on the cheer team was a part of my identity- not in a snobby, popular/stereotypical way, but because it was something I was involved in at school and it was pretty much my main/only extracurricular activity going into freshman year.
Because it took/takes up so much of my time and has been such a crucial component of my school experience, cheer has become part of my identity. At first this was a positive thing, but as I’ve gone through this season, it’s been tinged with a more negative connotation. Now that I have a lot more on my plate and classes are harder in sophomore year, practice is just one more block in my busy schedule, making the days even longer. I’m at school almost twelve hours a day some days, I have to wear my uniform at least once a week (at least for football season) to school, and I’ve realized I’m not actually very good at the sport.
All this has attributed to me slowly growing out of cheer. I still take weekly tumbling classes at the gym I cheered at in eighth grade, and I find myself mainly returning for the nostalgia, rather than the actual cheer classes. It’s almost like I can’t bear to quit the classes because once I do, I know I’ll probably never return to the gym and that’s another part of my life that will be gone forever. I know, it’s a little dramatic; some of my friends have suggested that I try and get a job at the gym coaching little kids at some point in the future, but I’m definitely not qualified enough. I’ve never actually been a superstar cheerleader- it’s just something I used to love doing.
I haven’t really felt those same nostalgic emotions regarding school cheer yet since I’m just so burnt out from it and waiting for this season to be over. That being said, I know I will start to miss once I’m removed from the current reality of it- I may not be best friends with everyone on the team, but there is a certain special bond to be had with any sports team, and I’ll miss having that relationship with a group of girls. Practices are rough and game days are long, but the fun moments inbetween like blasting music in the bus and cracking jokes while carrying our 50 pound cheer bags make me question my decision to quit.
I know it’s the best decision for me- it’s not something I prioritize anymore, it takes up wayyy too much time (I want to get a job in the future and there’s other volunteer/extracurricular opportunities I’ve been cutting back/holding back on trying out because of having cheer everyday), and I’m not actually that good at it. Regardless, after giving three years of my life to this sport, admittedly the most time I’ve done a sport or activity continuously, it’s hard to say goodbye. It was the first time I had gotten really passionate about an activity since I was little and experimented with all kinds of sports, and I thought I might do it for the rest of my high school career.
The most important thing in these cases is to appreciate the experience while you still have it. It’s been very difficult for me to do this in the moment, but it does help put a frustrating practice or day in perspective when I remember it’s one of my last days/games/etc. as a cheerleader. I know this decision is what’s best for me at the time, and will allow me to move onto bigger and better things that will give me more personal fulfillment. When something isn’t serving you anymore, it makes sense to cut it out of your life- time is too precious, and you never want to give yourself any extra burdens.
That being said, just because you’re going through a rough patch or a period of unmotivation with a certain activity doesn’t mean you’ve completely outgrown it or should quit right away. This is just my experience where I’ve weighed the pros and cons- it ultimately has to do with what is going to make things easiest for you and keep you happy. Life’s too short to stick with something you don’t like, especially when there’s so much out there to explore and so many other things you can try.
-Brooke
adventures of a typical high school student 