Communications Industry

While I do believe there is a value for what many athletes accomplish, I do believe they are overpaid. Even if they played as they are expected; utilizing their talents to the fullest extent, and never having social issues away from their prospective sports, they should not be paid the amounts they are paid today. I can think of many more rewarding jobs where the individuals are far more deserving of incomes near the levels of athletes. An example where the individual deserves such an income is a teacher.

Today, teachers are held accountable for so much more than they were years ago. Not only are they asked to be teachers, situations today require them to be parents and confidants as the need arises. These new tasks are necessary because of the direction families have gone in contrast to families in the past. Children need someone to fill the void left by families needing two incomes. Teachers are the obvious and best qualified candidates. They are who shape our children’s minds and they do this more frequently than any other. They deserve the compensation. Now, I guess my answer might be a little different, and even a little biased, if I were an athlete wanting the millions I feel I deserve for playing a sport that is nothing more than a continuation of a childhood recreation.

I have a confession. My confession is that had I been asked this question years ago, I might have said I feel athletes are not paid nearly enough. I would have answered that way because I was so into sports, and I guess I was in the same trance that “fanatics” are today. Lucky for me, a little boy was born who has helped me realize there is nothing more important than he, at least in my eyes. His birth helped me put many aspects of my life into perspective. I wish at least half the world’s parental population agreed. Maybe then more focus would be placed in the proper areas of life.

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Palms sweating, heart racing, I pace to and fro chanting to myself that “everything will be all right”. My mind is filled with unnerving thoughts, life seems suffocating, and I feel too fragile to survive in today’s world. I am in the middle of a panic attack. My world becomes unreal, like a Dali painting, and I am the melting clock.

Since I was six years old, I have been plagued by terror and fear. Public places, schools, large groups of people all were various circles in my own personal hell. Starting high school, I felt I could no longer go on. The horror of my fearful life overcame me. Walking to the front of the school was, to me, the equivalent of walking to the gallows. The idea of the ridicule I would most surely face if I panicked in front of the unforgiving multitudes petrified me. I broke down so terribly that I could hardly leave my bedroom, eat, or function. I feared everything around me, but what I feared for most was my life. I wanted to claim it for my own again and vanquish the demons raging in my mind. I drew on a well of strength that I was unaware I possessed and I returned to school to make the high honor roll, win several awards, and regain some semblance of happiness. It was then that I sparked the embers of an overwhelming lust for life.

I am now a sophomore in college, holding a 4.0 GPA, in a successful relationship, and facing mammoth changes. While I regained my ability to function and succeed academically in school four years ago, I have yet to completely overcome my panic. On dates, in theatres, in school functions my demons resurrect. I am happier than I have ever been, yet I am not the happiest I could ever be. I have vast and wonderful dreams of transferring to a larger school outside my hometown, marriage, world travel, writing books, and lecturing to raise awareness of panic disorders. Yet unless I take action, now my dreams may evaporate before my eyes and I will be left filling their void with regret and fear. To be successful and truly unequivocally happy, I need to once again go to arms against my demons and face my fears head on.

Within the next year, I am considering transferring to a much larger school in my state, over four hours away from my hometown. I want to pack my things with joy leaping in my heart, confidence that I can take on the world sounding in my voice, and take my biggest step yet to taking hold of my dreams.

Right now, my heart is racing, my palms are sweating, and I fidget and become restless thinking of it. But when I overcome myself, my thoughts, and my fears all of those symptoms will be from excitement at a new and wonderfully successful life.

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