First of all, shout out to my older brother, who is studying abroad in Copenhagen (lucky!) right now. He turns 22 today! Love you Charlie! Follow his adventures at teddysexcellentadventure.blogspot.com! I guess us Tedstrom's are just hip bloggers...Dad, Mom...time to start blogging?
Anyway, today, I've officially decided on going Early Decision to St. Olaf College to play Division III hockey and maybe soccer. November 15th is the deadline, and I went for it for a lot of reasons. I loved the school when I went there this summer, and it is in a location where my family will be able to come and see me very easily. I've decided I would rather go to school in the Midwest than go out East because my family and friends will be able to come watch me and because I've always been able to see myself living in a Midwestern city like Minneapolis after college. Of all the small Division III hockey schools in the Midwest, I think it is the best academically, and that's very important to me. So pending my admission to the college, that is where I will be going next year. I'm very excited, and, obviously, getting this decision out of the way is a load off my shoulders. My roommate said to me the other day, "How nice is it to already know where you're going to school?" I said, "Very nice," with a sort of wry smile on my face. Now, my parents still want me to apply to some reach schools that I might not be able to play hockey at, just to see, and I think that's a good idea.
Of course I'm really excited for school. College is something I've been looking forward to since a very young age when my parents started telling me their college stories. But now that I have that decision out of my way, I can really focus on continuing to get better at the hockey side of things. I can keep getting better every day if I don't let myself get complacent. I've been talking to some of my friends and family a lot lately, and the consensus is that I have to be better at living in the present. I'm doing something that a lot of kids would love to be doing, and I'm so lucky to be doing it. I need to realize that and approach every day with a tenacity and desire to improve. For some reason, I'm one of those people who wants to worry about something, and, unfortunately, when I'm not playing hockey or working or doing something, my mind starts to wander, and I feel sorry for myself that I'm not going to school or that I'm missing out by not going to school. Nonsense! I'm living the dream. My dream. And if I were in school right now, I would probably want to be doing what I'm doing right now, or wondering what it would be like to be doing what I'm doing. So, I'm going to stop having those thoughts altogether. They are the kind of thoughts that get me nowhere. This year is going to go by fast enough; I don't need to hurry through it or miss out on any chance to get better by thinking about the future or the past. That's just stupid.
At the beginning of the season, I did approach every day with a tenacity to improve, and I drove myself with a desire to be a leader on the team. In the past week or so, I've started telling my parents that I think this junior hockey experience has become a little monotonous: long road trips, work, hockey, eat, gym, sleep, do it all over again. That's my life. But I have to relish it because it'll be over soon enough, and I'll be out in the real world, wanting to be back here. I think these kinds of thoughts are natural for someone going through their second or third season of junior hockey. I know my roommate has some of the same feelings because we've talked about it. I'm going to revisit my goals for the season, though, and really focus on getting better daily. I'm not going to let my mind get the best of me anymore. No matter how monotonous the season gets, I'm not going to complain anymore because this is my dream. And I'm living it.
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