Who are you? What do you want?

A good friend of mine recently had a heart to heart with me that I desperately needed, although at the time I didn’t realize it. The future is a scary thing, no matter how old you are or what your plans are. Big life decisions all boil down to two things - Who are you, and what do you want? Everything else that is occurring or you plan to accomplish in your life should fall under those two categories. If they don’t, it’s time to reevaluate. He helped me make my decision, and I actually ended up with a list written down under each question. Creating the list was easier than I thought it would be - it made it much easier to remove the outside factors and focus on what matters. It made me realize that the choices I was making were difficult in the short term, but would pay off tenfold in the long term. I think this is a great concept to apply to recruiting and looking for that perfect fit for college ball as well.  
 
Who are you?
            - What do you stand for?
            - What are your values?
            - What is your personality?
            - What defines who you are?
            - What do you want to do for the rest of your life?
            - What are your passions?
 
What do you want?
            - How far away from home do you want to be?
            - How strong of an academic school do you want to be at?
            - What division do you want to play in?
            - How important is softball in your decision?
            - What are your goals for your four years of college eligibility?
            - What kind of coach do you want to play for?
            -What contributions do you want to make to your school, program, community?
 
Having a purpose and a plan while making decisions helps to guide YOU in the right direction for YOU as an individual. Being influenced by external pressures and short term goals can often hold us back from reaching our true potential and shining in the long term. Often times, we are so caught up in what ifs and short term goals that we lose sight of the big picture and what we want to accomplish. And still there are other times, where our loved ones are telling us what we don’t want to hear - but they’re right. Sometimes it just takes us looking within ourselves to arrive at the right conclusions. Taking the opinions of our loved ones, mentors, and peers is never a bad thing...but in the end we must make our own decisions. It all boils down to who are you, and what do you want? Answering these two questions not only gives you a better idea of where you are now, but also where you want to be.