Don’t Ever Stop Breathing

On Sunday, at approximately 1:35pm, before my soccer game against the Lady Tigers of Grambling State, I read my team a letter that I had wrote them.
The letter read as follows:
Place your hand over your heart. Can you feel it beating? Can you hear the, Boom Boom Boom sound? Your heart is a unique part of the body, because it will continue to beat until the bitter end. It never stops, even when you are sleeping. When searching for a goal, extraordinary love, or even a dream that seems so unattainable to become a reality, the heart continues to beat and strives to obtain that which seems so far out of reach. Some people say that the mind is the strongest part of our body, and that is true to a certain extent. However, even when our mind gives up on us and we doubt ourselves, our heart continues to beat. Yet instead of solely displaying strength, the heart is filled with perseverance, which is the foundation of strength. Please make the decision today to follow and use your heart no matter what, no matter whom, no matter how hard something may seem. Because it will give you perseverance, when you have no strength at all and that perseverance will give you the strength to carry on. Your heart will give you the will, and remind you why you are so passionate about soccer, when the passion is not enough to keep you going. As long as we are breathing, the heart beats on. So please never stop breathing.
After I read this letter to the team, I went out on the soccer field and warmed up. I knew that this match would be a difficult one because the Lady Tigers have a great team with an undefeated record in the Southwestern Athletic Conference. Nonetheless, before I started the game, my team and I hyped ourselves up, by huddling around in a circle, with our arms over each others’ shoulders we swayed back and force shouting, S U! SSSSS U! Forget GSU!
However, when we kicked off at 3 p.m. we were lackadaisical, and in less than 10 minutes the Lady Tigers had scored two goals in the first half. At halftime we went to discuss the problems that we had out on the field and what we needed to do to win the game. Most people on the team suggested that we needed to be more forceful and not be intimated.
The second half was 100 percent better than the first. We hyped ourselves up once more, but this time we stepped onto the field ready to play. This half we played with vigor and tenacity. I was elated when my teammate Charamaine Jones scored a goal on the Lady Tigers in the second half. Right then and there I was determined to win. But I guess my determination just wasn’t enough, because that afternoon we lost 1-2.
That night I cried, but I didn’t cry because this was the last home game of my collegiate career, nor did I cry necessarily because we had lost. I cried because I had stopped breathing.
Like I mentioned in the letter to my teammates, As long as we are breathing, the heart beats on. It will give you perseverance, when you have no strength at all and that perseverance will give you the strength to carry on.
Please never stop breathing.
Love Each Day