As I find myself sitting on a bus during a 7-8 hour drive through Alaska, I have realized it is one of those times for me to drain the thoughts I sit alone with to the rest of the world. The previous six months have been the cause of a lot of emotion for me, and have triggered a stream of lessons and reminders to keep my eyes up.
I strive to once again share those lessons and reminders with you all, because as I make sense of what my purpose and future hold, I find the people to continuously be at the center of it. Life is not about you. Meaning, my life cannot be about me. I don’t find myself living that way, but these past 6 months have shown me more than ever the importance of surrendering this great life for the benefit of others. Let’s dive in.
The other piece of context here is the belief that my life is easily accessible over social media. It’s not. I love social media as a tool to connect with others, share experiences, maybe even inspire and influence others positively, but there is a lot of life I hold close to my chest. I let it out here, and that’s always been the point. This site has always been for those who care the most. My friends, family, teammates, and other relationships for their respective reasons are all separated for the most part; there’s not a lot they all know about each other because they all have different meanings and impacts on me. This is where all of that comes together. Maybe that’s healthy, maybe it’s not, but it works for me.
This recap, like most of these posts, consist of things that I don’t talk to a lot of people about, yet we all somehow have the messages found in these posts (and my thoughts) in common. That’s what I believe. Here’s my perspective on what the life I have lived means for the life I am living.
The January and February months are two of the most difficult of the year for a spring student-athlete. You’re balancing the incredible joy of experiencing a new season with the difficulties of physical training and preparation, coupled with the mental awareness that your social life and relationships are bound to evaporate for a few months. This time for me this year was mostly full of the anticipation of finally being back from injury. I set goals I didn’t expect to reach and wanted well for those around me, but all I really, really wanted was to play in all 56 games at whatever the cost may be.
I just set out to enjoy myself.
The mid-February to late May is a complete blur. For perspective, we travel on Thursday and practice in that city on Thursday night. We play Friday, Saturday and Sunday, then bus or fly home Sunday evening, usually getting in early Monday morning. Off Monday, but still expected to get to class. There’s either a game on Tuesday or Wednesday (occasionally both) with the other day being a practice day, leading right back into a travel Thursday or game prep Thursday at home… which starts the cycle over again.
It’s in these times that you watch the people around you come, or go, or come-and-go-and-come again. If you don’t get results it’s a struggle, and if you do you’re on top of the world. There are no consistencies in these times, not on the field, not off the field, not even in your personal down time. Luckily for me, I earned the results I worked for, and the blessing of being back playing again was much more special.
There are a few games that stick out to me from this season, the first being my first game back from injury at USC Upstate on February 17th. We got to experience that as a family, I got a couple hits, and I think that was a special day for us all.
March 8th at George Washington was another great day. 3-5 with a grand slam and 7 RBIs in a 21-11 win. I took the lineup card out of the dugout and gave it to my dad, and I’m sure it’ll live in our archives for a long time.
March 21st at Duke was a special moment for me because at the age of 15 I had aspirations of playing at the ACC level on that exact field, and feeling that come together was an inspiring thing.
March 25th at Charleston was a 17-inning loss where I went 4-8 but had a couple opportunities to help us out late in the game that didn’t come to fruition. That was the second extra innings walk off loss in a row for us, and the physical and mental exhaustion of that brought me to tears. I was picked up by messages reminding me the importance of the day to come – March 26th – which would’ve been our dear Logan’s 10th birthday.
April 4th and 5th were a fever dream. 5-6 with two home runs against UMBC, the latter being a three run walk off. There’s no way that’d happen again until the very next day with a 2-5 showing capped off by a walk off grand slam over George Mason. Those were the days I heard from everyone in all corners of my life, and that’s when I really realized there was special work to be done this season.
April 16th, May 5th, and May 19th I had the pleasure of welcoming three different type 1 diabetic boys to our games which might’ve meant more to me than any of them. To be able to impact other people’s lives in that way was and is an astounding gift.
May 7th was an impactful game as well. Coming into the day I was 1 for my last 19 and had a lot weighing on my mind, that I was also wearing on my sleeve. They pulled me aside during batting practice and told me they were leaning towards sitting me for my mental health. I told them no. They said it was possible, so I told them no again. Let me go, I’m fine, I’ll figure it out. To which I did, and had a 3-5 day with two homers… and then a very impactful conversation with my parents.
Senior Day was a special day too, but mostly to take a step back and appreciate family, my teammates, and the body of work that was this season.
As you can tell, the season and it’s moments stick with me and other athletes vividly. There are many more moments and highlights and things to take away from baseball, but the ones I highlighted stuck with me the most because of… the people. Every story I just told had to do with those around me as well, and that’s what I find all of this to be about. It was truly a spring surrounded by special energy.
Since the season’s conclusion I haven’t slowed down, spending time at the beach with former teammates, at home with friends and family, and ultimately now on the road playing some more ball. As I’ve entered the summer phases of managing my life away from all of my usual people, I’ve had much more time to slow down and think. It’s not always easy making sense of relationships and situations that loom during this time away.
There are increasing anxieties and uncertainties about where life is going to lead. For some reason I’ve felt that more recently now than ever. As life has started to get real for those around me and different seasons and experiences draw us closer and further from different people, what lies ahead can be a scary thing. That’s the mentality I’ve had when diving into scriptures and testimonies and words of faith to try to figure out what is now going on in my life. Trying to find some message telling me to slow down and find peace amongst the chaos. When combining that with my best experiences of this season of life, I take away these types of lessons and reminders to us all, but myself especially:
- Life with God is not promised perfection
- We are designed to do difficult things
- The most difficult of all is waiting
- Do the people around us help us fall towards Christ or make us fall away from Christ?
- What are we willing to do to keep the right people in place?
- Nobody cares about the numbers, they care about how you make them feel
- One thing at a time
- Know your worth
- Love with no fear
- If Jesus felt the need to pray, then so do I
The first thought is simple yet often unrealized. Life with God is not promised perfection, meaning this isn’t supposed to be easy. That’s the biggest misconception that we lose ourselves in because we want all of the control. These things aren’t in our control, and as much as I try sometimes I lose that. The intimidation of the pitfalls and the mishaps of life are combatted by finding the peace in knowing that we are designed to do difficult things.
The most difficult of all is waiting, but waiting comes with reason. It comes with reason we cannot see, with all of those reasons defined and categorized to me in three ways. We are being empowered, protected, or prepared by being forced to wait. All things on God’s timing are good. When we try to force our ideas and our timing into His work, we usually make a bigger mess than ever intended. I got that message from Impact Church down in South Carolina at a time where I needed it the most. As many times as I’ve waited and worked through scenarios such as rehabs, relationships, or anything in the past, it doesn’t make the future waits easier or anxiety free. And what happens if what we have been waiting for never comes?
Then, we have to make sure we are equipped with the right people. Because the struggle is coming. That’s a guarantee. Life will continue to provide the hard times, and you will fall. So when we do fall, do the people around us help us fall towards Christ or make us fall away from Christ? And when we find and identify the right people for our needs, what are we willing to do to keep the right people in place? That’s when the idea of surrendering to others gains momentum. I think I live that well, but it gets harder to live that when you don’t know what the future holds with those people in your life. Will it all be worth it in the end? According to God, yes.
The best tactic to keep the right people in place is to treat them the right way, that’s pretty obvious. But what does that really mean? I best summarize it as nobody cares about the numbers, they care about how you make them feel. “The numbers” can be sports stats, salary, material worth, facts, or other nonsensical attempts at impacting people. I’ve always believed this, but I finally heard it again yesterday in a way that I loved from Coach Scott Berry.
In all of this, success or struggle, I always remind myself to try to live one thing at a time, trusting that what I’ve done, how I’ve treated people, and my ideals will lead to what is best. And when it doesn’t, I remind myself and others to know your worth. When it’s time to walk away because what you are giving doesn’t match what you’re getting, that is knowing what you are worth to yourself and others. I’ve found that to be the best way of maintaining my powerful friendships. We accept the love we think we deserve, and we often don’t give ourselves the credit of deserving more. From there, love with no fear of the things that are out of your control. When I look back on this year of 2023, I think this is what I am most proud of, and I will continue to be this way. Of all the aspects of baseball and life that have helped me find success and peace, loving hard is at the center of it all. When it’s a curse, it’s a hard, viscous, ugly thing… but when it’s a blessing it’s the greatest blessing of all. That to me is worth living for.
And finally, if Jesus felt the need to pray, then so do I. If the perfect, sinless, ever-loving Son of God felt the need to take time and talk to His Father, then we all should. Give the pressures, the thanks, the love, the conversations, the humility, the courage, the respect, and the responsibility to God. As easy as a step as that is to skip in finding success, don’t leave it out.
There’s two things we all take in life… W’s and L’s. To me, those are Wins and Lessons. Both come at the hands of a higher power. As badly as I want to control them both, I don’t. And I forget that. But when I do forget that, it’s these lessons and reminders that take temporary place so that I can get back to the wins. I hope you find those wins as well.
Ride the highs, work through the lows, and take care of your people. Talk to you soon.
I love you, my people.
Bryce
Love you, Pop.
Super 8 