Saturday Stories Vol. 3 - Releasing Negative Energy, Ashley Rico's Story

I have been playing softball for the past 14 years of my life, and it was been a rollercoaster. Full of the highest of the highs, and the lowest of the lows. I have dealt with adversity in different ways throughout my life. As I was getting older, I had to shift my mindset on how I coped with things because the same escape I had while I was younger was not working anymore. If I was having a bad day during school, I would look forward to softball because it felt like my escape. That was my motivation to keep going because I had something to look forward to. When I wasn’t succeeding in softball, I would look forward to school. Yet, when those two things would fail, I felt like I had no escape. When I was not succeeding in school or softball, I felt like I had nothing to look forward to or no motivation. As I got older playing softball and going to school, I started training to get faster and stronger on the field. At the time, training felt like another priority or another job. I didn’t fully understand the importance training is as an athlete. Through all the ups and downs I would face as I was maturing, I was able to develop a mindset that helped me escape reality. Training was my escape, my “getaway”. Whatever emotion I was feeling, I was able to release the negative energy I was facing into training. The older I got I realized I was able to get through so much adversity through training. Now I look back when I was younger, I was using training as an escape without even knowing. I would feel like I accomplished something in life. I was finding my escape from my priorities (softball & school), and I was seeing results within myself physically and mentally. I started to set goals in life for school, softball and training when I saw the results within myself. It made me strive for more. Realizing how important training is, has helped me live a healthier life emotionally, mentally, and physically. Until this day, I set new goals for myself and strive to beat them in every aspect in my life. Understanding the importance of my priorities gave me the confidence to achieve my goals. While I was going through the process of training and reaching my goals, I was able to gain confidence within myself and seek a different type of happiness.