A career in sports comes with its own set of challenges, as much as you may deny it, early retirement in your 30’s or 40’s is the norm or sometimes the most dreaded injury takes it away. Here are six tips that will help you prepare for ending a sports career early and moving on to your next best alternative career path.
Over the years, I have fostered a deep appreciation of the world and how geography influences differing cultures, physical processes and ultimately, the future of our planet. Geography is a subject that is crucial for students to understand; to learn how our world has developed, and ultimately to appreciate that they are the custodians of their own fragile inheritance.
Transitioning from a career of service based on camaraderie and teamwork to one more self-oriented, requires a shift in mentality. In the military achieving a team objective can result in a life or death outcome, something that, does not usually apply to civilian life.
My first job was as a Bank Clerk in Lisbon. I still remember the branch manager being very surprised and wanting to talk to my mom once I told her that I wanted to quit. It was very kind of her to do that because she also had kids my age and didn’t want me to make a wrong decision that I would later regret. But it was nevertheless funny that she wanted to talk to the mom of a grown-up man.
I discovered that I could adapt quickly to new environments and could work with people from different backgrounds while communicating successfully with everyone. Being a multipotentialite allows me to perform a variety of roles throughout the day, and push my boundaries.
For me, what is also incredibly important, and it is also one of my biggest motivations is to set a good example for my children. I don’t want them to stay in a career that doesn’t suit them, just because it is well paid. I wanted to teach them to follow their dreams and to live a good life, full of meaning and accomplishment. The only way to teach them that is to do it myself.
I sense that we evolve over time and become interested in different things, so I feel it is natural and healthy to have new careers and new experiences in our lives. Otherwise we can get stuck and unhappy. Changing a career is not an easy process, but it has been a great journey for me.
It was while I was in the Falklands that I first experienced the stirrings of a vocation to religious life. I had only been in the WRNS for a couple of years before realising that it wasn’t what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. As I couldn’t decide what I wanted to do, I decided to stay where I was until it became clearer. I still had a couple of years of soul searching before becoming a nun.
The dance luminary Jurgen Schneider, our master teacher and also a Ballet Master at American Ballet Theatre, told me I was a born teacher. I resented this because I wanted to perform first, then teach. I also thought many teachers I had seen were bitter ex-dancers or bitter dance lovers who never got to perform. I did not want o become like that!
Imagine running something in between a marathon and an obstacle race every day of the week, five days a week. It is a very demanding physical job that in time can affect your physical health.
