Don’t take anything for granted

Don’t take anything for granted

We are currently on our way back from a nice little business trip in Ontario, Canada. By business trip, I mean we went to get two wins and that is exactly what we did. I have been sitting on this bus for over an hour now trying to think about what I want to post about. There is one thing that I have kept wanting to post about but usually just switch it up and keep telling myself that I will wait. I believe that tonight is the night to talk about it. I want this post to be about not taking anything for granted. 

How many of you have taken something for granted in your life? Probably most of you. How many of you have taken something for granted this year? I would assume that most of you could attest to that as well. How many of you have taken something for granted this week? Probably a couple of you. Unfortunately, it becomes easy to take things for granted, simply because life flies by. We go through so many different seasons in our lives and sometimes we get caught up in not giving it your all in your current season? 

This topic has been on my mind for lot of reasons. One of the reasons is that I miss playing basketball with my best friends. One of my best friends got a concussion back in the beginning of December, healed up and when we were playing in Florida last week he got another one. I think I have been on the court playing with him twice in the entire month. I am not saying that I don’t like playing with my other teammates because I do, I would do anything for them. I love them all. My other best friend has been hurt on and off as well. Thankfully he is feeling a little better now, but it seems like he was getting banged up every single day. When that happens, I miss playing with those guys so much. Last night when we were playing Great Lakes Christian I got kneed in the head and didn’t play the rest of the game, or the game today against Windsor. It sucks because I would do anything to be out there with my teammates but sometimes the unexpected happens. 

One of things that I have taken for granted in my life has been playing basketball games in the Dominican Republic. Our team goes every other year and this past summer we went. We played 7 games while we were down there. Seven games in three days. That’s a lot. The very first day we played three games. Playing three games in the United States in one day might not be as bad, but in the D.R. it was extremely tough. The gyms are incredibly hot, the style of play is totally different and the refs suck. When we played our third game that first day I had never been so tired while playing basketball before. It wasn’t because I wasn’t in shape either. It was so hard. Fast forward three days and it’s our last day of games. We were planning on playing two games on that last night and no more games the rest of the trip. Paul wasn’t going to play due to injuries he was dealing with. Gage didn’t play either because he has knee surgery over the summer. So, we were already short two bigs. Things started getting out of hand during the game. Pickle, one of our freshmen, broke his ankle and we were all affected by the pain that he was going through. A couple of possessions later, Grant takes a hard elbow to the head and is bleeding all over the court. As this point I am thinking, let’s just get this game over with. My two best friends were hurt ad couldn’t play and it seemed like everyone was getting hurt. I remember finishing that game with the mindset that we still had one more game left and I was going to give it everything I had in that last game because it was the last time I was probably ever going to play a basketball game in that country. The game ended and it was time to warm up for game number 2. Ryne told me right before the start of the game that he wasn’t going to play me. I don’t blame him either. Everything that could go wrong seemed to be going wrong. I would way rather be healthy for our season here than one game in the D.R. It was the right decision for sure. I was sad though I can’t lie. I remember going over to Paul and putting my arm around him and I was so emotional. I told him that it wasn’t the same playing a game without him and Grant and that when we can play together that I am going to never take it for granted. Not just them, but all my teammates. A big reason why I was so emotional was because I didn’t give everything I had in the previous game. When I look back at it, I was so selfish for doing that. I am not saying that I went out and gave it 50 percent of what I had, I gave probably 90 percent because I wanted to save a little bit. I took the moment for granted and it sucks looking back it, but I won’t let it tear me down. That moment taught me a valuable lesson. When you take things for granted you not only miss out on things but the people around you might miss out as well. Our games that night were in the town where we usually played all our games when we were there. The people from that town would fill the stands and cheer us on. All of the kids at the game were the kids who would come to the clinics that we put on in the morning for them. The kids who gave 110 percent during every drill we put them through taught me so much. It just didn’t carry it over. What was right in front of me, I took for granted. 

I hate to admit that I didn’t give it my all at something I am so passionate about but I want to be as honest with you as I can be. 

This post had a lot to do with the things I have taken for granted and I hope that you can learn a lesson from my mistakes. I encourage you to be in the moment. Every second of every day. Today is a blessing and tomorrow isn’t promised. Remember that.