Winovich talks about the loneliness of being an NFL rookies

celebrity is a weird thing, and it is not nearly the 'fun' or the 'blessing' that many think it is.  when i lived in socal i saw the beautiful people all the time, and by that i mean the most famous rock/movie/TV/athletes of the day.  i bounced at a club that was 'the place' to be and got to know some of them a bit.  the problem is that they don't have any real friends, only sycophants, and if you are a grounded person there is the deflating feeling of false friendships - they only want to be your friend because you have $/fame, not because of you.  

couple that with being alone in a city where you don't have a base of friends, where you are young and single and what are you going to do, party a lot and play with fire re: drugs, booze, women, etc?  (hatter nods violently, 'yes!') .  seriously, your choices are limited and you've got to get out and find fulfilling activities and friends, otherwise that loneliness could be crushing.  

If you ever get a chance to check out “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind’’ by Yuval Noah Harari on Coursera, I highly recommend it. I don't see it on there right now, though.

It's absolutely fascinating, and Harari teaches it himself.

I remember reading how Tom Brady's father had one of Tom's sisters move in with Tom when he was drafted by the Patriots. If I remember right it was to keep him out of trouble. But it would also have the affect of giving him a friend as he adjusted to life on his own.

There's just such great wisdom in that.

It ain't football or fame, Chase.  Welcome to having an early career.

I was an engineer in my 20s and this was our life.  Get up, go to work, work all day, work late, pick up some fast food on the way home, go to bed, do it all over again.  Sometimes we'd get together on weekends when we weren't catching up on sleep but we were already spending every waking hour together so while my colleagues were nice people, the lack of variety was as stale as my diet.

There are occasions when this kind of isolation is inevitable but designing widgets or entertaining crowds aren't solid justifications.  Society is stupid.

Learn to play a musical instrument...you will never be lonely.

I'm past-40, so I'm kind of old now.  But looking back, the loneliest time of my life --- and I've had a few other peers tell me the same thing --- was that transition time in the first year post-college.

For one's ENTIRE life, up until that moment, there were always some combination of family, classmates & teammates (for athletes) around.  There were always some other folk who were at basically the same point of life, trying to figure it all out as you were.

Then, after college that stops.  College friends scatter about.  New co-workers aren't necessarily at the same point of life, and they have their own stuff going on.  Organized sports generally ends too.  Perhaps there is a Tuesday night kickball league but it's not even close to the same.

Simultaneously, the responsibilities also increase by a factor of 100x (vs the carefree college days).

Within a year, you figure it out and reach a new "equilibrium point."  But it's a process to get there, and often a lonely process.

It's so hard making all this money

so so hard

When you are a famous pro athlete with money, it adds even more to the loneliness.  You don't know who you can trust, and who is latching on just to grab a piece of your fame, and perhaps your money.

That's why a lot of these guys have a posse that consists of the guys they grew up with, that they know well.  Importing your old posse eats up a lot of money though . . .

I read this last week.  
 

If when you are alone you are bored and lonely you are in bad company.

Such an interesting topic, featuring interviews from three players, and it's what a 2 minute read? 3 minutes? 

WTF happened to journalism. I got to the end and I was like "that's it?" Why not go into the routines/hobbies that the veteran talked about? Why not dig into how/if this is addressed in the NFL rooking orientation thing? Why not just go into more detail with your three interviewees? What about digging into some situations where this lonliness had serious consequences (I'm sure there's plenty of examples).

I can relate to this.  

And Winovich continues to come across as a really excellent kid (man?) and a wonderful representative of Michigan. 

I have been retired from the Michigan State Police for 23 years and not a day goes by I don’t think of a few guys I worked with.  We were so close because of the job.  Probably couldn’t have made it for 25 years without them.  Someone posted above about feeling important to other people.  So true.  Life is too short not embrace those around you.

OMG, I’m Soooooooooo lonely...?