When Things Happen, Sometimes It's for A Reason!
I finished up some of my last USTA tennis matches for this year. I ended up earning two more runner-up trophies after competing in the tournaments! Ultimately, I was grateful to learn through experience and play some very good opponents. I'm excited to say I am rising up the Women's Open National Standings List rankings, which means I am becoming one of the best players in my region and section. Of course, there are many tennis players in my state that are far better than me, but I am amazed and grateful for the progress I'm making throughout the year.
I think this season surprised me, because I didn't really know what to expect after returning to tennis from such a long break. I wasn't sure how I would adjust to competition, so I just started slowly with practice before competing in my first local tournaments. As I began to build my endurance and my match skills, I started feeling more comfortable on the court again, and I experimented a lot with developing my game. Along the way, I realized one of my strengths was my power and my ability to generate pace, which I used to my advantage in a lot of tournaments.
Honestly, sometimes I wondered if I should have played more tournaments in the past, but now I am beginning to see that sometimes, things happen for a reason. Maybe I needed that break to get to the high point I am at today. I feel a lot stronger at 25 than I did when I was 21, and I'm excited to develop my full potential in tennis. At the same time, I'm continuing my education with my Business Administration degree.
Another example of how things happen for a reason came when I accidentally locked myself out of an educational account. I was slowly working through a free math course on the website, but once I accidentally locked myself out of the account, I wasn't able to complete it. I was disappointed and worried at first, but after a while I realized maybe this could be a blessing in disguise. "I could use the time I spent on the math course to focus on other things I need to complete or explore," I thought. I saw that one of my weaknesses is sometimes focusing on too many things at once; then I have a hard time finishing all the projects I started! So, I accepted what happened and tried not to beat myself up about my mistake with the account.
A few days later, I was researching about how women choose college majors and their decreasing interest in business degrees in some cases. Then I happened to stumble on a website called Forte. I had heard about it earlier, but I didn't know everything about its membership options. It turns out Forte is a non-profit foundation that empowers women in business! Its goal is to build women's confidence in their business and leadership skills.
I was so happy to learn that the Forte Foundation offered a free membership! I was able to sign up and join an event about how to prepare for a consulting interview. The experience was a lot of fun and very educational!
When I thought about what happened, I realized that if I hadn't accidentally locked myself out of my old educational account, maybe I wouldn't have found Forte. I would have been focused on finishing the math course, so I may not have been typing in the search results on the internet that led me to Forte. In a way, not finishing the math course opened up opportunities for other things I could explore, so it really was a blessing in disguise.
So that leads me to my first thought - that things sometimes happen for a reason. I find that when I accept what happens in my life, instead of trying to control everything that occurs, opportunities start to open up. And ultimately, that helps me appreciate that sometimes you must trust that everything will happen in the way it is meant to be.
The life lesson I learned through completing this tennis season is that sometimes things in tennis really happen for a reason, too! The break I took from tennis helped me to clear my mind and build my mental and physical strength. My results this year astonished me, but I can see I have more potential ahead, and I'm grateful that I've learned a lot about myself during my return to this sport.
In a lot of ways, tennis resembles life. Sometimes you have to trust in yourself and understand there's a purpose for your challenges. When you overcome them, you are ten times stronger than you were before. And you can take that strength with you throughout your life.