Expressing Myself With The Team:
Sports, and right now Field hockey gives me a way to express my emotions. Anger, excitement, frustration, how strong I can be, and other emotions. Verbally emotions don’t come out the way I plan them to. Mentally, up in my head they spin like crazy, but a lot of times I don’t know what they mean. Physically, when I have the option, they just take off and fly. In sports there are many emotions left out on the field, the court, or in the pool. In my case, it’s on the field playing on my field hockey team. It's one thing to express these emotions alone, but another thing to express them with others. My team wins together, laughs together, sings together, cries together, yells together, and gets frustrated together. Together, together, together.. Everything is TOGETHER. I don’t have to try to express myself alone anymore because I have a team to do this with. I often find myself not expressing myself very well when I am at home, with friends, and especially in the school environment I am sitting in right now (but when I write, like I am now...Well that's a different story!). I don’t really know why it is, but I do recognize my emotions inside, but that doesn't do me or anyone else much good. So, having a team and a sport to express myself is a huge help! We are not a bunch of mini cliques like some teams at my clique-filled school has. We are one BIG clique, but an unusual clique because we let anyone in that wants to be a part as well and I am very proud to say that I am one of the captains that makes this happen.
Sports, and right now Field hockey gives me a way to express my emotions. Anger, excitement, frustration, how strong I can be, and other emotions. Verbally emotions don’t come out the way I plan them to. Mentally, up in my head they spin like crazy, but a lot of times I don’t know what they mean. Physically, when I have the option, they just take off and fly. In sports there are many emotions left out on the field, the court, or in the pool. In my case, it’s on the field playing on my field hockey team. It's one thing to express these emotions alone, but another thing to express them with others. My team wins together, laughs together, sings together, cries together, yells together, and gets frustrated together. Together, together, together.. Everything is TOGETHER. I don’t have to try to express myself alone anymore because I have a team to do this with. I often find myself not expressing myself very well when I am at home, with friends, and especially in the school environment I am sitting in right now (but when I write, like I am now...Well that's a different story!). I don’t really know why it is, but I do recognize my emotions inside, but that doesn't do me or anyone else much good. So, having a team and a sport to express myself is a huge help! We are not a bunch of mini cliques like some teams at my clique-filled school has. We are one BIG clique, but an unusual clique because we let anyone in that wants to be a part as well and I am very proud to say that I am one of the captains that makes this happen.
The Nasty Social Situations Only Made/Makes Me Stronger:
Yes, I have endured many uncomfortable situations on some teams and yes I´ve been put down sometimes, but that has made me only that much stronger. You never want to see your children go through that pain, but really in the end there are great results. (Look at who I am now! I never on the face of this Earth thought that I would ever write a blog about Auditory Processing Disorder and become this strong about explaining it.) I mean think about it... If you never introduce your children to social settings or shelter them to what you believe is going to be a bad social situation, why complain that they have a hard time socially? Yeah, they might have it harder than most people, but if you shelter them from this, how will they ever learn? One day they will be on their own and will need to know what to do.
Yes, I have endured many uncomfortable situations on some teams and yes I´ve been put down sometimes, but that has made me only that much stronger. You never want to see your children go through that pain, but really in the end there are great results. (Look at who I am now! I never on the face of this Earth thought that I would ever write a blog about Auditory Processing Disorder and become this strong about explaining it.) I mean think about it... If you never introduce your children to social settings or shelter them to what you believe is going to be a bad social situation, why complain that they have a hard time socially? Yeah, they might have it harder than most people, but if you shelter them from this, how will they ever learn? One day they will be on their own and will need to know what to do.
My Social Skills Have Improved:
I am not the outgoing one, or the talkative story teller, but I have developed lots of skills from being on sports teams. I have learned through my team how to communicate with different types of people. Although I don´t communicate as well as most people, I have improved my social skills immensely. When to say what, when to laugh, when to make a joke, etc... Appropriate timing of when to ______ was a hard concept for me as a child, and today I still mess up, but that’s just the APD I can’t control barking at me. BUT I do have to say, from the times I do mess up I know how to cover it up. Someone- “What did you have for lunch?” Me- “Um, I had like a salad with ugh chicken on it” Someone- “So a chicken ceaser salad? (giggles from people)” Me- “You just one the lottery! (giggles from people)” or “Well, that’s what I meant (giggles from people)”. I turn those “awkward” mistakes around with a little humor. Gotta say, it works like a charm!
I am not the outgoing one, or the talkative story teller, but I have developed lots of skills from being on sports teams. I have learned through my team how to communicate with different types of people. Although I don´t communicate as well as most people, I have improved my social skills immensely. When to say what, when to laugh, when to make a joke, etc... Appropriate timing of when to ______ was a hard concept for me as a child, and today I still mess up, but that’s just the APD I can’t control barking at me. BUT I do have to say, from the times I do mess up I know how to cover it up. Someone- “What did you have for lunch?” Me- “Um, I had like a salad with ugh chicken on it” Someone- “So a chicken ceaser salad? (giggles from people)” Me- “You just one the lottery! (giggles from people)” or “Well, that’s what I meant (giggles from people)”. I turn those “awkward” mistakes around with a little humor. Gotta say, it works like a charm!
My Confidence Level Jumped:
School isn't my thing, and usually is a huge burden... I try to imagine myself not being involved in a sport, and I can't because who would I be? It's something I LOVE verses school which I can HATE sometimes. Sports come easy for me and then on the flip side there is school which does not come easy at all! Recognizing my talents in sports gives me a lot of confidence in myself. It let's me know and say that I am in fact GOOD at something. I can't imagine going through life disliking and just finding all the tasks I do to be hard. I wouldn't have much confidence in myself, would you? I know I wouldn't. I deal with enough daily hard tasks and it's tiring. Sports are fun BECAUSE they come natural for me. Having confidence in life is very important for everyone to have!
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If there is anything that has helped me, it has been being a part of a team. If it isn’t a sport team, maybe it’s drama, or a church group, but “team building” is very important and great practice for everyone, but especially people with APD.
If there is anything that has helped me, it has been being a part of a team. If it isn’t a sport team, maybe it’s drama, or a church group, but “team building” is very important and great practice for everyone, but especially people with APD.
"I promise you that for every disability you have, you are blessed with more than enough abilities to overcome your challenges" – Nick Vujicic
