Remember the days when you had sports curfew? Or you could eat whatever you wanted because you would "run it off" later. Those were the days. But, there are things that every retired athlete knows to be true...

1. Stairs are your worst enemy.

Yes, there was that time you were in shape. That time when stairs didn’t wind you out. Now even after one flight you will be huffing and puffing. Ya, it is rough. By the time you get to the top of the stairs you always think, “Man I’m out of shape”.

2. Food actually makes you gain weight.

Wait calories exist? This cookie will show up on my stomach? Yup food actually does make you gain weight. New concept. Not a fun one to get used too.

3. You don’t have the constant thought “What if coach finds out.”

Yup, when you stay up past curfew. Or when you eat more than you should. Or you don’t workout. Or that bad test grade. Yup, you don’t have that dark thought in the back of your head. That nerve-wracking thought, “What if coach finds out.”

4. You can actually sleep in.

Sleep, it is a beautiful thing. You don’t need to get up for a 5 am practice, conditioning, or workout. You do not need to set thirty alarms to get you up. All you need to do is sleep.

5. Your cheat day is every day.

No longer is your cheat day on your one off day. Your cheat day is every day. Take that as you want. It can be good or bad.

6. You can’t say “Oh I’ll run it off later.”

Nope. This saying does not exist. Every time you use to eat food you could think “Oh I’ll run it off later”. Not anymore. Now you don’t have practice. So you will not be running it off later.

7. Time Management gets harder.

You have time. So managing this new found freedom is hard. You rather hang with your friends then do homework. Or you rather watch Netflix then do your homework. Basically, you rather do anything besides homework. So time management is very hard.

8. You can get through Netflix shows.

You can finally get through your Netflix bucket list. Binge watch all the shows you’ve been wanting to watch. How You Met Your Mother, Vampire Diaries, One Tree Hill all of them. You have time. So, finally, you can watch them all.

9. No sports curfew.

You can actually stay out. You do not need to leave every social thing early. You do not need to say “Sorry, I have practice tomorrow” or “Sorry, I have a game tomorrow.”

10. Free time is a thing.

Wait, free time? What is free time? You never know what free time is until you are a retired athlete. You think you know, but you don’t.

11. Your feet aren’t as ugly.

Yup, no blisters. No bruises. Not saying your feet become miraculously pretty. But, definitely not as ugly.