Gratitude

Today was eventful and full of most of the stuff that I love. It started off with going to school, finding out that I ended the 1st Semester with a 4.4 GPA! After school, I went straight to my varsity softball practice. It was our first practice of the year and it went surprisingly well! We started off with a long throwing warm-up and then we continued into infield. I love hearing the crack of the bat, my team yelling where to throw the ball, and that nice, crisp smack of the ball hitting the baseman's glove. Softball is such a great sport that I hope to continue with for the rest of my highschool career and maybe longer. I then sped over to volleyball conditioning which started at 6:15 and went until 7:30! I really use my volleyball conditioning to take my chance and lead the whole volleyball club that consists of around 100 girls, even though only half of them usually show up. After the conditioning part ended, it was the night for the 16's, 17's (my team), and 18's teams to stay and have one big skills practice. Since it is was skills practice, we start by really getting our arms very warm and then sticking to one focus of the night. Tonight happened to be serve recieve practice. I love passing serve recieve because I am a setter, and setters never get to pass serve recieve! It feels like a natural motion to me and I love feeling the ball hit my platform, passing the ball perfectly to the setter. We ended the night with a great, intense game of fast ball that went on and on. There were so many great rally's and I am so pround of everyone working so hard tonight. I love having these practices because it has everyone playing with all different ages and variations. This is why I fit gratitude into my daily life and sports!

Gratitude is the quality or feeling of being grateful or thankful. It is an emotion that occurs after people recieve help, depending on how they interpret the situation. Giving thanks is not just made to do on Thanksgiving. It should be used daily! What I've noticed is that when I put gratitude into my daily practice, it has made me a happier and healthier person! I researched facts about gratitude and I came across an interesting thought. The American Psychological Association discovered that grateful teens are happier individuals. And is result, teenagers that express gratitude are better behaved in school, are more helpful, show more respect to adults and peers, and also have more energy toward taking on life's everyday challenges. For the past year, I have really stepped up and taking on more challenges. Whether it's school, extracuricular activities, or sports, I take the challenge of making myself and other people the best we can all be. Gratitude can be such an easy thing in every situation like... Write a letter or a note to your parents, teacher, siblings, best friend, mentor, etc. If you teammate does something good, give them some affection and show them that you are there and that you guys are family. No one should go a practice without getting praised with something they did right. Comes to think of it... I don't think I have ever gone through a practice without someone not getting praised by either another teammate or a coach. Show compassion for others. "Gratitude unlocks the fullness in life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend."

One thing I like to do after I workout is reflect upon my workout with constructive evaluation. It is always a good thing to reflect upon what you did well. I always remember after my practices the things I do well, the things I do wrong, and what I learned from it. It helps you reflect upon what you can refine or improve. Take out the important lessons from each experience and target your areas of improvement. My favorite thing that comes out of my constructive evaluation is me assessing the role of my commitment, attitude, metal readiness, and my focus. I feel as if this is the biggest part of reflecting my performance because I can put so much thought into it. It really reminds me of how I have the mindset of a champion and nothing less.

Even though this picture is from our first tournament of 2012, I still love it so much! This is one of my best friends who happens to be one of my teammates on Shoreline. Her name is Breeanna Calhoun and she is a senior from Harbor High School. She loves Tim Tebow so I promised her next time I set you and you get an amazing kill, I'll Tebow with you! She did it on the next play we made. Always praise a teammate when they do something good! I love you, Bree!