Week 9 College: Balancing Acts: Mental Health Week, Race Reflections, and Reconnecting with Friends
“Connection is the energy that is created between people when they feel seen, heard, and valued” – Brené Brown
By: Hong Bing Tang November 3rd, 2024
10/21/2024 to 10/27/2024
Introduction:
Hey all. Sorry for posting this weekly update late. It is getting to that point in the semester where motivation is low, and things are starting to pile up with exams and studying ramping up. As a result, I had to unfortunately put this week’s update on pause. Although it may be late, week 9 of college was filled with a lot of packed activities. Let’s dive into what I did!
The Body:
To kick off this week, our SAAC (Student-Athlete-Advisory-Committee) and MAC conference in general had the annual “mental health week.” This whole which is to support, and bring awareness to student athlete mental health. So to start off the week, our whole track/xc team attended a mental health talk held by a former Chippewa student athlete, Kelly Brown, she told us a little bit about herself and her story before sharing how to move on from our athletic identity. Although I felt that she was super nice and shared her story well, she never mentioned how she got through the transition between college and going into the workplace. She mentioned all the problems that she had but did not share what strategies she utilized to get through them. So while it was a fine talk, I really did not get too much out of it.
Additionally on Wednesday our SAAC hosted a yoga night to have some relaxing time with some other athletes. Luckily is was not anything too intense. We started off by doing some light focus activities followed by some light stretches and some light yoga that involved stretching of the back along with the hips and hamstrings. It was really nice to be able to stretch these areas since as runners I feel like we are always so tight especially in these areas. Afterwards, we transitioned into some meditation which is always a struggle for me. With being so busy all the time, I feel like every instance that I get to settle down my mind starts racing and thinking about my actions of the past. However I tried hard and was able to limit the amount of thinking that was happening. Overall it was really good and I was happy to attend this event.
The last event of mental health week was on Thursday where we were able to make some stress balls and also make paper lunch bags for elementary school students. It was fun doing some service and I made two paper bags on with balloons and a message of rising and soaring for the clouds and another of a sun and being positive. Overall it was really fun!
Eli Date:
For those of you who do not know, Eli was my roommate, my freshmen, and sophomore year but this year we did not room together (Although next year we plan on giving together again and I am super excited). Unfortunately, since we do not live together, we barely see each other anymore. So, we decided to grab dinner and catch up. We talked about how we are both doing, classes, and his girlfriend’s plans for spring break. Overall, it was nice to be able to see him again and it really revealed that I truly do miss him and need to continue to do a better job at reaching out and hanging out with him 😊
Eastern Michigan Cross Country Meet:
Since I did not make the MAC meet for cross country, to end my cross-country season, I was able to race a 5k at Eastern Michigan. I was excited about it since I was fit and racing a 5k is much easier than an 8k. The exciting thing about the race was that my brother attends Eastern Michigan so he was able to come watch my cross country meet which would have been the first in a while that he has been to. The race went well, and I worked up well and overall, when I crossed the line, I felt pretty good about it. But sometimes the nature of xc is that you think you run faster than you did and that happened. I was happy about my race before I saw the time, but once it was disappointing. But that the sport of running for you. Overall, I was not mad about it, it was just a little surprising. That is the hard part about separating yourself from races. I still did a job of not being mad about it and there was a whole lot more I took out of the race, so I was proud. It was good to be able to see my brother and my other friend Nick and catch up with them since I had not seen them since the summer.
Board/Card game night:
On Saturday night my freshmen year dorm crew was able to hang out at Morgan’s apartment and play some video games. It was cool to see everyone come together and talk since we hadn’t done something together in the last couple of weeks. I was talking to Morgan and Brody about their races they had done. (Brody had done a Half-Marathon that day at Mackinaw, and morgan had completed the Detroit Marathon a couple of days prior). After we started to play some board games and started off with a game called chameleon. It was like Mafia, and we had to choose someone we thought the imposter would be. It was quite fun. After we played some Euchre, and it was funny since Brody stole the deal from Eli as usual. After we spent a lot of time talking to each other and got on the topic of how people asked out their girlfriends. I learned that Brody had a funny story of how he asked Emma, and it was finally good to learn how it happened. It was getting, so we all headed home.
The Body:
The last thing to conclude the week was track or treat which is an annual event that our track team hosts where we decorate pumpkins and host track events for elementary and middle school kids to be able to try and get some candy. This year my team decided to make Doodle-Bob from sponge bob, and it was a huge success! Emma J was a super good artist and did great with his face. Overall track or treat was a fun and great way to bring the community together with athletics.
Conclusion:
The last week has been wonderful, although it was super busy, I was excited to be able to connect with people again and have fun with others. This next week is a little bit chill and hopefully it will be just as amazing!
Get in Touch
Got questions or want to chat? Drop a line. I love connecting with new friends!