Thread by @chrishlad

My freshman year in college punched me in the face.

Here's an unlikely comeback story that changed my life👇👇👇

So I was an incoming freshman at Yale.

Recruited to play on the lacrosse team.

And I show up to campus that Fall with some confidence.

Thinking I was ready for anything.

I was dead wrong.

First month gives me pneumonia which lands me in the hospital.

Then I get injured.

Then I get a sinus infection that lasts 6 months.

Then I get hernia surgery.

Then I get sinus surgery.

When I tell you that literally everything went wrong, it did.

It was my own personal year from hell.

All while the Yale lacrosse team was having its best year.

We ended up making it to the NCAA tournament.

And winning our first D1 national championship in program history.

It was an incredible team achievement.

And I didn't even get to wear a uniform for the game.

I watched my team win feeling like I made 0 positive contribution.

Even worse, I could tell I had lost my teammates' respect.

You can have all the excuses in the world.

And I kinda did.

But no one really cares.

You are either providing value to the team or not.

And I wasn't.

This is also true for life outside of sports.

So it was June after my freshman year.

The season was over.

And that year I had felt more like a fan than a team member.

It made me sick to my stomach.

But I had a choice:

1) Quit the team
2) Do whatever it takes to make a comeback

I chose option 2.

My sophomore year would be a comeback year.

I would prove to myself and my teammates that I could make it in the program.

That summer I changed everything.

• a new diet
• a new recovery routine
• a new stretching routine

and most importantly,

a new mindset.

That Fall I show up to campus and my coaches sit me down.

I would be changing positions this year.

If you don't play sports, this is like playing piano your whole life and then being told you are a guitar player now.

It was a gut punch.

But it wasn't my job to complain.

It was my job to provide value to the team.

So I shut my mouth, put my head down, and got to work.

That sophomore season was better.

I was still far from a star player.

Mind you, I didn't really play in the games at all.

But I could tell I was contributing in practice.

I was pushing my teammates to work harder.

To improve faster.

We ended up making it all the way back to the national championship.

And we lost.

But something special happened.

After that season, my teammates voted for me win a team award:

The Richard Corrigan Award for Most Improved Player.

It was one of the proudest moments of my life.

Now I definitely wasn't the best lacrosse player out there.

But I proved that I could hang with the best.

I proved that to my teammates.

My coaches.

But more importantly:

I proved that to myself.

Here's what you can learn:

1) Make it your job to provide value to your team

2) Respect is earned not given

3) Once you you realize that you can play at the highest level, your mindset will forever change

Thanks for joining me on a trip down memory lane.

If you love a comeback story, retweet the 1st tweet below so more people can read to:

https://twitter.com/chrishlad/status/1423457883010736128?s=20

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