Before the end of my season I had about two or three practices a week, two would be on the week and then one on the weekend. If we had a game that wouldn't change anything, we would skate a good deal then undress, eat a meal and then get yelled at by our coach because he said we looked tired. Anyways, late night practices. You have to leave the house buy 6:45 to get there on time, if just one person is late we all suffer, than dry-land goes from 7:15 to 8:15 and then we get 15 minuets to get dressed. Than from about 8:30 to 9:30 we do a whole bunch of suicides because coach felt like we hadn't done them in a while.
Basically you get home at 10:00 and if you procrastinate, you usually are up until 11:00 doing math or whatever. Now these aren't the worst, I enjoy skating so no matter how many ladders, suicides, we do it's still fun. However the worst and most hated of all, early mourning practice. They come twice a week, Wednesday mourning and Saturday mournings, I have to get up at 4:30 both mournings eat a scrambled egg with a cut up banana and watch old Sponge Bob episodes. It is truly terrible, occasionally I will have a practice late Friday night and then get like 6 hours of sleep plus three and a half hours of hockey.
Now you might ask me why I still do all of these, part of it is that my dad wont let me skip it. The other reason being that I believe that the sacrifice is worth the reward of being the best.
Although this might sound weird, one of the greatest things my Rabbi every taught me was about happiness. He gave an example, if an Alien were to land on the Earth and walk into gym. And in that gym he looked through a window and saw a man dripping with sweat and a pained expression on his face. The alien would think there was a guy with a gun just out of the view of the window forcing him to do this, then when the alien walks in and sees there is no one standing there, he is confused why people would purposely put themselves through all that pain. My Rabbi than said that today people think that pain and happiness are opposites. When in truth, they go hand in hand. If you ask a parent what their greatest joy is they would say their kids, now ask them what their greatest pain is, and they will still say their kids. Joy and Pain go together, so without pain there is not real joy.
That is why I continue to dedicate my mournings to skating, because without that pain I wouldn't have the joy of playing in high school or college or even pro.
First, I appreciate how long and detailed your posts are. They tell a story, focusing on real parts of your day/life. I like how you switched from a narrative to a more introspective story. It made me think. I liked this line: "The other reason being that I believe that the sacrifice is worth the reward of being the best." This is a good motto to live by. I think you'd do well in the military.
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