I’m a little older than I used to be but it doesn’t change the fact that I still consider myself an athlete. Part of me still believes I can compete at the same high level I once was at. I’ve been reluctant to accept the fact that farther time is there breathing down my neck waiting to catch up to me. I was the kid that wouldn’t even want to smell alcohol during the season. Fast forward ten years later and I’ve essentially become the kid that puts the “fun” in functional degenerate.

With hindsight being twenty twenty now, after being on both sides of the argument; playing sports scares me more than experimenting with drugs. The only real preventative measure I have to injuries was just more training. I spent so much time playing sports my body was always in competitive shape. I was never coming fresh off the couch.

For awhile there I was avoiding a different couch, the one that has socially been labeled as “low tolerance.” I’ve spent the past few years of my life speeding through the fast lane saying yes to whatever anyone has offered me, just to keep the partying going. Partying like I was so I would never lose the tolerance that made me so cool.

Now look at me, a man that calls himself an athlete and a fool who thinks he can still keep up in the fast lane to timid to do anything. Playing sports is scarier to me than going to hard in the weekends. If I’m in the fast lane speeding like a madmen at least I’m in control of what happens. If I’m out there playing basketball and land on someone’s foot and can’t walk for four months, there’s nothing I can do about that.

All I’m saying is that I’ve officially become old enough that working out and playing sports scares me way more than taking the wrong drug. I know first hand that it’s way easier to cure a hangover than it is to heal a high ankle sprain