You can't please everyone.

I wasn't always the best wrestler in the world growing up. I won one state title in high school and I was only recruited by a handful of colleges. I was a really small kid, and spent most of my young athletic career being dominated by peers that were developing physically at a much faster pace. However, I loved the sport. At the youth level, you travel, mess around a lot and practices aren't that tough. What's not to love? Once I got to college that all changed.

Anyone who wrestles knows that wrestling is not a sport, but a lifestyle. To be the best you have to live it and breath it, every single day of the year, not just the in the winter months. I enjoyed the sport of wrestling since Day 1, and as of today I still have a passion to lace up my shoes and compete. However, this question bothered me for a long time. Someone once asked me, "What drives you? What motivates you to continue to wrestle?" This may have been one of the toughest questions I have ever had to answer as a wrestler. How would I answer? Truth is, there were so many ways to answer this question. "To dominate my opponents?" Nah, I'm a nice guy. "To be rich?" Nope, wrestlers aren't millionaires. Well what was it? The answer I gave is an honest but an open-ended one. I answered, "To prove a point, to everyone who never recruited me, to be highly recognized in the wrestling community, and to be the best ever."

Self-fulfilling huh? I know, but as a competitor, these were my motivators. This newfound fame I began to receive was boosting my ego, and I loved the recognition. I wanted to be everyone's favorite wrestler, and I thought because of my accomplishments that I would be, but my how I was wrong. The more I competed and the better I became, the more I began to see that despite my contributions to the sport, there were some people who would never know who I was, and those who did may choose not to like you anyway.

You see, no matter what you accomplish in life, what goals you conquer or the number of obstacles you break through to get there, there will always be people who believe you are undeserving. Since realizing this, my answer to that question has changed greatly. Part of being a great athlete is being able to be a hungry competitor but master the quality of contentment. You will be no bigger or no smaller than God has planned for you to be. Have you ever realized that no matter how much good you do or how much you try to please someone, or a group of individuals, that some still don't really like you? God ordains the audience of the famous and underrated. The only thing we can do is continue to work hard and trust that you are right where He wants you to be, with the right people cheering for you.

When you spend your life and career trying to please others you lose the essence of pleasing who's most important -- God. Unlike people, you can be pleasing to Him whether you win or lose. Whenever you get down and think that you aren't appreciated despite all the good that you do, remain content and remember this quote...

"I've seen better days, but I've also seen worse.

I don't have everything that I want, but I have everything that I need.

i woke up with some aches and pains, but I woke up.

My life may not be perfect, but I am blessed.

My life may not be perfect, but I am blessed.

-Jordan Burroughs