Five, six, seven, eight, go one, two, three, four... I live and breath in eight counts, and I have for a long time now. Cheerleading has been a huge part of my life since I was 14. Anyone who's reading this and has cheered before understands me when I say that cheer is quite literally a lifestyle. It transcends just a sport or a hobby. After you fall in love with it, it becomes what you think, do, and breathe from there on out. But there's something that no one tells you about cheerleading. There IS life after cheer. I know, crazy right.

Don't believe me? Here's how I know about this said "life after cheerleading."

So here's the thing — I haven't cheered my entire life. I know plenty of people who have cheered since they could walk, but that's just not my story. I grew up playing soccer and I absolutely loved it, but as I got older and it got more competitive, my petite frame just didn't match up and I ended up giving it up in the end. I never thought about cheerleading until I was 14 and saw an ad for tryouts at my future high school. Honestly, I tried out on a complete whim. I didn't know much about it, didn't really care either. I just wanted to get involved.

Anyways, I ended up making the JV team my freshman year, and from there, it's history. I fell head over heels in love with this sport, even just at the high school level. As I aged through high school, cheer was right there with me. Cheer taught me some of the best lessons I've ever learned, like perseverance, patience, leadership, teamwork, and so many more. After being a captain my senior year and finishing up a successful and amazing 4 years of cheer, I didn't want it to end. I wanted more.

I was a Kansas State Cheerleader my freshman year of college. This was and still is one of my biggest accomplishments so far in my life. College cheer was so incredibly different from high school, but it was everything I had dreamed for. I met my best friends on this team. We spent countless hours conditioning, practicing, cheering games, doing appearances, and so much more. My entire life was cheer. It's all I ever did. And while I loved it, I never got to do anything else. I was never at any of my sorority events, never really hung out with my friends outside of cheer, and I definitely didn't study as much as I should have. But because I loved it, I thought that it was really OK that I was missing out on all of this. So here's where the story gets sad.

I didn't make the team for my sophomore year. I used to believe that everything happens for a reason, but this crushed that belief. It absolutely tore me apart. I didn't see a life without cheerleading. I felt lost and hopeless and like I had no worth without this sport. It took me months and months to work through this pain, and to be completely honest, I'm still working through it. But this isn't where it ends for me.

If you don't get anything else from my testimony, please get this: There is life outside of cheerleading. My life is still just as bright and meaningful and fun without cheerleading, if not more than before. I have time to pursue my other interests, like writing and traveling and running. I have time to study and pursue my major and future career. I get to foster and build relationships with my sorority sisters and make new friendships with people in my classes and beyond. I get to relax every once and a while and see my family more often. I get to have an actual life, not one that revolves solely around cheer.

After I lost cheer, my mom kept saying this thing to me over and over. She said, "It's a blessing in disguise. It might not seem like it now, but someday it will." My mom is always right, and this was no exception. Losing cheer has become one of the biggest blessings in my life. I am grateful for the time I spent on the sidelines and will always have fond memories of those days, but I am ready to move on with the rest of my life.

It's OK to love cheer and let it be your whole life. But I promise, there really is life without cheerleading. And it's pretty amazing.