 Back in November of 2015, I started a venture that was completely new to me. That led me to buying a Semi-Pro Soccer team and eventually creating my own Semi-Pro Soccer team. This was also very new to me and not something I had ever thought about doing as a business. This past week was an emotional week for me because I am no longer part of this venture. As always, life happens, and I had to make a tough decision on whether I stayed in that situation or I moved on. After weighing all of my options, I decided to take an offer and I sold my 50% of my team.
On paper, everything made sense to sell. But my biggest challenge I had in making a decision was that there were people involved, (the players). These young talented athletes were part of a tough learning experience in my life, so it was a "little" difficult not to become attached to these boys. They have put in so much effort to be part of this team and they were a big part of why I continued through such challenging times since December of 2015 until last week. Even though it was an uphill battle, our team created hope for so many young athletes aspiring to play soccer at a higher level. The players may not realize this, but they have made an impact in this sport. People are now talking about our team, we're winning games against some of the best semi-pro teams, and I was part, (along with a great partner), of creating a team that could possibly go far in the soccer world. So the battle was worth it. Except now I feel like if I broke up with "my girlfriend". I was heart broken when I addressed the team and told them I had to move on. I came to a crossroads and had to make the tough decision. So how did I cope with this move? Imagine being consumed for 10 straight months, day in and day out. Giving it my all, building, stressing, traveling, investing, dealing with everyday issues, networking, everything that involved building a team, a successful business and getting involved with the players by helping them in any way possible. With their fitness, conditioning, but most importantly, trying to be the best coach and mentor I could be so that they can be stronger physically and mentally. The long days, getting up early in the morning and going to sleep super late. Sleeping 2-4 hours a day. Feeling so heart broken... I know people, (friends and family), and I've heard stories of people who finish a project, a relationship, or achieve something great in their lives and they fall into depression or they have some radical change emotionally. I can understand why. Anytime there's emotional attachment, it can be painful. One may feel a bit of relief, as if a weight was lifted off our shoulders. But as the days pass, one begins to feel that nostalgic feeling and sometimes the feeling of being lonely and not knowing what to do. For those of you who follow me on social media, you may or may not have noticed, that all this past week I barely posted anything. For me, the way I moved on was not easy, but here's what I did. 1. I completely stepped away from everything for a few days. I took a small vacation from anything that had to do with business including my workouts. 2. I focused on my family. The reason I do what I do is for my family. So I spent that much needed time with my wife and my baby. I missed putting my baby to sleep. I didn't take her to school a couple of days this week and just spent the day with her. I took her to the park for a few hours, read to her, watched TV with her, and just gave her all of my attention. I spent some alone time with my wife. I accompanied her to the doctor, we went to lunch, had a long needed conversation about us and just spent time together alone. 3. I reached out to friends and family and had long conversations with those who had the time. We talked about anything and everything. There were some friends that I paid visits to and just hung out. I didn't try to sell anything, we just talked and laughed a lot. 4. I worked on a few things at home, not much, but a few things that needed to get done. Like laundry and small tasks like that. 5. I have another project that I'm preparing to launch, but I didn't work on it on purpose. I wanted to make sure I was ready mentally and emotionally, but it also created a kind of excitement or sense of urgency to get started already. It's like wanting to open a present under the tree, but we can't open them until Christmas. So now I'm more excited to get started and launch my new project. 6. I focused on my nutrition. These past few days I haven't worked out, because again, I took a small vacation, but I really paid attention to my nutrition. For me, nutrition has a huge impact on my mental and emotional state. The difference between having energy and not having energy can be the difference on whether someone falls into depression or is able to keep motivated and inspired to move on. 7. I read, listened to and watched inspirational and leadership books, audios and movies. 8. I found a person that I could talk to about how I was feeling and just let it all out. No I didn't cry, (there's nothing wrong with crying), but I did vent. I basically did the things that I normally don't do, but a lot of us talk about doing. For example, not taking my baby to school and spend the whole day with her is something I normally don't do. Spend a whole weekday with my wife. Usually she's at work and goes to her doctor check-ups alone because I'm either at an appointment or because she goes during her lunch hour. This time she had the day off, so I took advantage of that and spent the day with her. I hung out with friends and had long conversations over the phone. We work so hard to provide for our families so that we can have time to spend with them, yet many of us get so caught up in work, we forget why we're doing it. That's another topic. Now, I still miss my team, but I was also reminded of why I do what I do and I loved the time I spent doing the things I mentioned above. I feel mentally refreshed and emotionally ready to take on my new project which is going to be huge and exciting! I'm ready to move on. What does this have to do with fitness and nutrition? Well, it has to do with mental and emotional health and I strongly believe that fitness and nutrition have a huge effect on our mental and emotional health. It's a topic that I don't talk about much, but it's a topic that I study and deal with daily being a coach in life, fitness, sports, business and nutrition. Something so simple can take away so much from someone's life, especially time. Learning to move on can sometimes be difficult, but it's something we all have to deal with at one point in our lives. I hope this gives anyone in a similar situation an idea or some perspective of how to deal with changes and be able to move on. Please share if you liked this post and feel free to comment. Maybe you have ideas or experiences that have helped you move on in your life. God bless, Jose Nilo #coachnilo #moveon #life #changes #mentalhealth #emotionalhealth |
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