A great win becomes history in the first second after the championship game.  You can take the memory with you but the win doesn’t make you who you are.  It’s all the practice in the mud and the rain.  It’s the bruises and aches you have to get over.  It’s struggling with defeat and it’s how you learn to rely on your teammates.  These are the things that make you who you are.  These are the lessons that shape your life.

All champions eventually lose and true character is revealed in the losses.  And there comes a time for all athletes to leave the game.  The question is, what are you going to do next?

BloggingGazelle is published daily by Shawn Carson