Life Update: SparkNotes Version
It’s time! It’s finally time for me to catch y’all up on what I’ve actually been doing for the past ~2 years. I’ve drafted a couple different versions of this, because there’s a lot to say, and I wanted to say it well. I’ve talked myself out of posting every draft so far, but I’ve realized there’s no use in me sitting on my story because it could help someone else, and simply because the journey I’ve been on is entertaining. I feel like this post kind of gives unhinged cover letter vibes, so here we go!
To bring things up to full speed, we’re throwing it take it back to when I made a seemingly overnight career/life shift (it wasn’t actually overnight, but I can totally see how it could look that way from the outside).
Take it back to 2021, my second year/final semester as a volleyball GA. I was very confused, torn, conflicted, etc. about what I wanted to do next. It was similar to when Troy Bolton couldn’t decide if he wanted to play basketball in college or pursue his theatre dreams. Part of me wanted to stay in coaching because I loved it, I love volleyball, and it was really the only life I knew. But there was another part of me that felt tugged to try another avenue, because volleyball was all I knew. I had a few opportunities to stay in coaching, but I just couldn’t shake this tug. I wanted to see if I was capable of doing something other than volleyball, I desperately needed to find out.
With my undergrad in nutrition & dietetics, and while working on my masters in public health, I was drawn to another aspect of the game and the culture of sports in general. Based on this, I made the decision that I was going to pivot and pursue a career in sports nutrition. There was a lot that went into this decision obviously, and it was far from easy. I quite literally left Pensacola, FL with no legitimate plan (shocking, I know). I drove straight to Dallas, TX with a dream and a vision, but no true plan of how I was going to execute it all. I knew the end goal, and that I had to lock in and commit to doing whatever it took to get there. Many people didn’t understand what I was doing, but I decided I was going to stick to this dream that only I could see, despite all the questions, comments, and concerns.
This led me into a wild ride of an internship at SMU with Sports Nutrition & Human Performance in order to figure out what I was actually signing up for. If I’m being totally honest, I literally had no idea what I was doing. At all. I started when fall camp began and figured it out day by day. It sure didn’t take me long to learn how different football camp was from volleyball pre-season though!! It took a lot of studying the football roster to learn 100+ names in a short time, and sometimes involved me crying in the bathroom at 6am because I was questioning my entire existence and I missed volleyball (don’t tell anyone that, it’s embarrassing). It wasn’t glamorous at all, but everyday that I showed up was one step closer to my end goal.
Thankfully, in the midst of all the chaos, I built some great relationships and made solid connections. I also worked part time at an eating disorder clinic during this time to help build my resume and gain clinical exposure. Oh, and I lived 3 different places during my 1 year in Dallas. My favorite being the 1 bedroom apt with my childhood best friend that was supposed to be temporary but lasted about 4 months. Good times.
That fall, I was accepted into the University of Houston dietetic internship program (this event is an entire separate post in itself). I did what’s called the distance tract, which basically means I completed my rotations while in Dallas. I began this program in January of 2022, and finished in July. There’s um…a lot that happened in between those months, but for the sake of both of us, I’ll skip over the details for now. Simply put, it was a very hard, lonely, and non-gratifying time in my life. 26 weeks of waking up everyday to go work for free, yet having to get over my feelings because I knew that each day was taking me one step closer towards my end goal.
As my internship ended, I interviewed and accepted a job as a sports nutrition fellow at UGA, which is where I am now! Once again, a lot of things happened in order for this to line up and work out, but I moved to Georgia about 2 weeks after my internship ended. The decision started by looking up where exactly Athens, GA was on a map, and was secured when I found out there was a Trader Joe’s here (kidding, kind of). I took a leap of faith with this job because it was a giant step towards my goal, and I had a feeling this was the right place for me.
The combination of starting a new job & moving to a new time zone was...character building! Things were happening fast, and it was all very chaotic for a while, as most jobs in collegiate athletics are. As a fellow, I am responsible for my own teams, while under the direction and mentorship of the other members of the sports nutrition staff (they’re the best), which has helped me grow tremendously. About 2 months ago I took and passed my RD exam, which was a big deal to me!
The past 2 months have been a tough gear shift because I was laser focused on becoming an RD for so long, and now that I’ve accomplished it, I want to keep moving forward. I am now focused on applying my certification in the real world, and how I can make an impact right here and now. I have lots of ideas in this brain, which I plan to start bringing to the blog as well. As I figure out how to execute it all, expect a bit of a shift in my content on here as I’m growing into a new phase of my life & my career :)
The reality is that I don’t know how long I’ll be here in Athens, or what my future in this career looks like, which can be scary. But I also know how much I’ve been through to get to this point, and how much I’m capable of. It’s always worked out, despite my stressful nature, and I’m confident it will continue to workout and unfold in due time. I’ve still got a lot to learn in my field, and years of growth ahead of me. And for those of you wondering…yes, I do miss volleyball, of course I do.
To put it simply, if you have a dream that doesn’t make sense to anyone else, and honestly kinda scares you - good! Chase it. Go get it. Other people can help you, and you’ll need their help (trust me), but at the end of the day, it’s you. You have to believe in yourself, and trust that it’ll make sense and come together one day. Until that day, enjoy the chaos of the journey and take it one day at a time.
