Reconnect to Your Why

Are you the type of person that hits that snooze button multiple times in the morning just to get an extra five minutes. Maybe you’ve lost sight of the Big Picture. It might be time to Reconnect with Your Why..

The best example I can give for Reconnecting with Your Why is our son Tyler. Tyler played collegiate soccer at Limestone University in South Carolina. He was a scholarship player and it was a proud moment when he was a sub 20 minutes in of the first game of freshman year. The interesting part was he was the only American player on the pitch.

Soccer (or known as Futbol) is the #1 sport in the world, but not in the US. Little known fact is that most players on collegiate soccer teams come from foreign countries. Universities recruit players overseas. The majority of Limestone’s players came from England, the Nordic Region and South America.

Tyler was captain of the team in his senior year. Over the four years there, the team won two conference championships and played in the NCAA Tournament three years. And as happens after graduation, everyone went their separate ways. It’s tough for a young man when he loses all that camaraderie over that amount of time.

But he came away with one top goal. He wanted to continue playing but not in the US but somewhere overseas. He was firm on his goal and he talked about it with others. When you talk about something as far-fetched as that, you are bound to get a fair amount of criticism. In fact, some family members would grill him on how he needed to stay here, get a job, and save money to buy a house. That’s how it’s done.

I admit, I also had my reservations. How would he support himself, how will we see him, what if anything happens, we just can’t get in a car and drive over. But I tried very hard to keep those thoughts to myself. His “why” was to see if he could compete overseas and to coach young players, just like his fellow Limestone teammates did when they came to this country. Remember this, when someone tells you their why, it’s their why, not yours. Don’t criticize it, encourage it.

In 2018, Tyler left for Australia and played there for one year. A screw up with his visa had him playing in Spain and then back home in 2019. He worked at Panera making deliveries trying to figure out how to continue his why. In February of 2020, he was on a plane to Auckland, New Zealand where he was playing and working for Hibiscus Coast AFC. In March of 2020, COVID-19 hit.

New Zealand had to be the most stringent country when it came to COVID. One outbreak and they closed the country. We were not able to visit, nor was he able to leave because he would not be able to get back in. The good thing was, they kept extending his visa and he kept playing and coaching.

After two seasons of unrealized expectations because COVID cut those seasons short, this season was a breakout one. This is what he posted last week.

• What a weekend and what a year it’s been! Winning 3 championships as a player and a coach. Men’s first team, Women’s first team, and Napier U19’s National Tournament (this one might be the best).

There is no better feeling than to know what your why is and see it realized. When you know your why, you won’t be hitting that snooze button in the morning. You’ll walk over and shut it off because you’ve been up for an hour already working on your why.

Tyler never lost sight of his why. In fact, when your why is crystal clear, you’ll do whatever it takes to get there. His journey has seen him go through Australia, Spain, England, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Thailand. He just renewed his visa for three years. Our intention is for Jeanann, Morgan and I to visit in 2023.

What’s your WHY? If you don’t know, maybe it’s time to reconnect.