number 1

This is my first attempt at a blog post, wish me luck. Not sure who will be reading this, but I wanted to have a platform to be creative and share parts of my life other than just through social media. Social media has a tendency to only show the positive moments that happen in life. That does not represent how life actually is. My hope is that this platform lets me share more accurate information about my career, life abroad and everything I have learned along the way.

My current life is not ordinary, I am living thousands of miles away from "home" & moving to a new country without knowing anyone personally. I am lucky to say that I currently playing professional volleyball in Europe; Pihtipudas, Finland to be exact. This is my second year of playing professional volleyball overseas. Woo, not a rookie anymore! The previous season I played in Klagenfurt, Austria. Which ended early due to COVID-19.

Excited to start playing again would be an understatement. If you know me, you know how passionate I am about volleyball and am 100% committed to becoming the best player I can. When I get to have this opportunity, to pursue my greatest passion I understand what people mean when they say "you will figure out what you want in life."

For me right now, that is a simple phrase. I am living my dream. Yes, the pursuit of this comes with positives and negatives. Most people forget that any decision has some drawbacks. I am a person that always weighs the pros and cons of a situation before making a life changing decision. I will include the list that I used when I was deciding if I was going to pursue playing professionally overseas:

• Pros: continuing my volleyball career, traveling to new countries and exploring new cultures, working on myself, not going into an 'office', worrying about volleyball and ONLY volleyball.

• Cons: the distance from my family and friends, self-doubt, missing milestones for my nephews, worrying about my safety, relying heavily on Facetime, money, living/traveling alone, starting an “actual” career.

These are not all of the positives or negatives but there are plenty in both categories to make this a difficult decision. In the end, obviously the pros outweigh the cons for me. I am so grateful to have this opportunity and continue my career. Volleyball has given me so many amazing people, let me travel the world, and has shaped me into who I am today. Without it, I would be a completely different person.

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Until next time,

jaelyn