Growing up, sports were my life. Sports taught me lifelong lessons that I use daily in my personal life and in the workforce. I learned the importance of showing up every day, on time, and giving it all I had. The importance of teamwork and working towards a goal. During those years, I learned how to lose with grace and to win with pride. However, I did not realize how difficult of a transition it would be for me mentally when I closed this chapter.
Watching my body change in the mirror was more difficult than I had imagined. I kept telling myself, “What do you expect? You went from spending 2+ hours of moving your body every day to basically nothing overnight. ” I knew I wanted to maintain a healthy lifestyle, but I was struggling with how I wanted to move my body. The workouts I did up until that point were geared towards being a better basketball player. I was done with basketball. I struggled with what workouts I enjoyed now. I expected to gain all of this extra time, but instead, I found it extremely difficult to fit a workout into my life, which seemed to be overflowing with newfound responsibilities. Not only that, but I no longer had a regimented schedule set by someone else, forcing me to be in tip-top shape. I also missed the comradery and sisterhood I had grown to rely on over those 15 years.
I felt odd wrestling with this, considering I wasn’t a gymnast or a D1 athlete. Still, my feelings were real, and they were valid.
One day, I saw a Facebook post from a girl I went to college with, talking about her personal struggle with body dysmorphia post-college sports. This intrigued me. Not only was I impressed with her genuineness, but also with the number of comments from other women agreeing that the transition was shockingly difficult for them, too. Not only physically, but also mentally. These women weren’t Olympians; they were regular women just like you and me.
I started researching this topic, and it turns out “5–15% of males suffer from body dysmorphia, while 16–72% of female athletes suffer from body dysmorphia (Montgomery, 2010, as cited in Lack, n.d.). ” “Female athletes, are more at risk for body image problems and eating disorders than the general population. For that reason, they need specialized approaches to identification, management, treatment, and prevention. (“Athletes and Body Image Issues”)”.
I am in no way suggesting young women should avoid playing sports because those years were some of the most treasured years of my life. However, we need to start talking about how difficult and prevalent mental, emotional, and body image issues are when women close this chapter of life before they close this chapter.
I believe talking about this more openly is the first step. Before that Facebook post, I felt embarrassed about my internal struggles with body image post-sports. Letting other women know these feelings are valid and real is the first step.
We can also encourage women who are current athletes to find ways they enjoy staying active that are not dependent on their sport. That way, when the day comes, they aren’t forcing themselves to walk 3 miles on the treadmill when they actually hate the treadmill. Finding something they enjoy doing is key. It’s possible to find joy from physical activity just like they did while playing their sport.
In a world that glamorizes not aging or changing, we also need to be honest with women and tell them to not expect their bodies to look the same as they did when they were freshmen in college. Babys, full-time jobs, bills, and other “adulting” responsibilities are a part of the next chapter for most.
A changing body was difficult for me, but so was my decreased performance. Years later, I still struggle with not being able to perform as well as I used to be able to. I sometimes get mad, I can’t run as far without getting out of breath or squat as much as I used to. But I must remember that even the greatest athletes are usually not performing as they did at the peak of their careers, at the end of their careers. I can grow and work hard, but that doesn’t mean I will perform as I did at 18. Growing older is a part of life that must be accepted for what it is. This doesn’t mean we just give up and roll over, but it does mean some things may be harder to achieve, and that’s okay. The ultimate goal should be to want to be better tomorrow than we were today. Looking in the rearview mirror isn’t productive when the roads ahead are completely different.
We, as a society, need to remember to give ourselves grace. As women, we are ever-changing. Holding ourselves to unreasonable standards harms our emotional wellbeing. We must remember that our carefree lives where we had endless hours a week dedicated to sports and working out may not be reasonable now. Setting small goals like 30 minutes of physical fitness a day is a great starting place.
I would also encourage any woman that has an unhealthy relationship with food or physical fitness that could be detrimental to their health and wellbeing to seek professional help.
Being a female athlete was a wonderful chapter of life that taught us many things. But it’s our job to prepare the next generation of women to transition to life after sports with a healthier mindset. A mindset that prioritizes being healthier tomorrow than they were today. A mindset that knows growth and happiness is of great importance. A mindset that appreciates the body they have at this moment in time, even if it has changed over the years.
When the last game is over, your jersey is retired, and the crowd disappears, remember that you matter just as much today as you did when everyone was cheering for you.
xoxo,
Self-Love Savannah
Sources:
Lack, C. (n.d.). Eating and Body Dysmorphic Disorders. Lumen. Retrieved from https://courses.lumenlearning.com/abnormalpsychology/chapter/eating-and-body-dysmorphic-disorders/.
Place, McCallum. “Athletes and Body Image Issues.” McCallum Place Eating Disorder Center, 15 Mar. 2018, https://www.mccallumplace.com/about/blog/athletes-and-body-image-issues/.
Self-Love Savannah 