Fun
fact everyone: I used to be a cheerleader.
This
may not come to a surprise to most people (especially if you know me), but I
was a cheerleader. And I loved it. I lived and breathed cheerleading for about
seven years. The transition from full-time cheerleader to (still) wannabe
cheerleader has been really rough for me, which explains why I’m writing a
whole post dedicated to cheerleading. It was important to me and it helped
shape me into the confident woman I am today. I wanted to take the time to
share some tips I learned in cheer actually ended up being life lessons
1. It's okay to fail. I promise you it is okay
to fail, but only if you learn from your mistakes. If you drop someone mid
stunt, you better learn from your mistakes. If you don't and you keep dropping
your flyers, no one will trust you. How does this relate to the real world? Take a look at your life and tell me you
haven’t made a mistake before. If you try and tell me you haven’t made a
mistake, I’m going to tell you that you just made a mistake by lying to me.
Everyone makes mistakes. Mistakes are human. What you do with your mistakes is
what defines you as a person.
2. The truth may hurt, but you'll grow from it. This is probably the most
important thing I learned. I will never forget the time I had my team sit down
with me and tell them that I was holding them back skill-wise. It was probably
the most heartbreaking thing someone had ever told me. A little back story:
I was not the strongest tumbler at all. I was definitely strong enough to
tumble, but would scare myself out of it last second. I was not about the idea
of breaking my neck. But anyways, when I had my peers straight up tell me
the truth, I was so upset. How dare they tell me that I was holding them back!
I worked so hard and I was fighting to be the best. After about five minutes of
being extremely angry and frustrated, I decided that crying about it was not
going to get me anywhere. I realized that they told me this for a reason. They
knew I could do better, but I needed that push from my teammates. I threw new skills that night and it was the best feeling ever.
The
moral of the story: it really sucks to be criticized, especially by your peers.
But they wouldn’t be telling you the truth if they didn’t have respect for you.
Take it as a compliment, figure out how you can improve and move on.
3. Helping others grow is the best feeling in the world. I don't know how many
people have helped someone grow before, but I highly suggest you do it. I'm not
talking about literally grow. That's not a thing. I'm talking about as a
person. I've had the chance to help coach high school cheerleaders before, and
it's such a rewarding experience. Making a difference in someone's life can
change them (and you!) for good. Relate
this to your classes, your organizations you are apart of or your work. Find
someone you can relate to and help them reach their goals. Don’t be creepy
about it, but just encourage them to keep improving and working for what they
really want.
4. "Fake it till you make it" can actually work. I've learned the best way
to be happy when you're really sad is to fake it 'till you make it. Once upon a
time, I got dumped over the phone during halftime of a game. I was really
upset. Actually I was more angry than upset, but that's not the point. I had to get back out there and cheer, and you
can't have a sad cheerleader. I went out to the basketball court and I smiled
the entire second half. And as silly as it seems, it totally works. Sometimes,
faking a smile can really help turn your mood around.
5. But most of the time it can't. Besides my cute little story about how
smiling can change your mood, I wouldn't suggest faking it till you make it in
every aspect of life. Let's say, you're learning a new routine or a stunt and
you really have no idea what's happening. You think to yourself, "I'll
just fake it and pretend I know what I'm doing until I fully understand."
Do that if you want to be responsible for breaking someone’s neck. You can get
away with faking it sometimes, but the more you know and the more prepared you
are in life, the better. Especially with cheerleading. You can't mess around
with that stuff when you're throwing people in the air and catching them.
This
same concept applies to life. Put on a happy face at work if you’re sad. You’ll
feel better. Don’t half-heartedly doing your job. That is one thing you cannot
fake. Eventually, doing sub-par work is going to catch up to you. If you aren’t
confident in a skill, ask someone for help instead of pretending to know what
to do.
6. It's okay to take a break from the real world. Cheerleading was my escape
from the real world. The second I stepped onto that mat, nothing else mattered.
I didn't care if I got in a fight with my roommate or if I didn’t do well on an
exam. This was my “me time” to leave all my worries behind. Of course, I had to
come back to them at the end of practice, but I always felt a lot better
afterwards. It's okay to walk away for a bit if you're stressed
out, just make sure you come back in a timely manner.
7. Hard work will pay off. At the end of the day, your hard work is going to
pay off. All the extra conditioning, the tears and black eyes will be worth it.
This relates to anything, not just cheerleading. What you put into your work is
what you get out.
Until Next Time,
Kaitlyn
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