Hi! My name is Sierra Brooks. Whenever I’m introducing myself, my name and the sport I do (hint, gymnastics) always go hand in hand. It’s a habit at this point. On the first day of school, teachers always love finding out 1-what your name is and 2- something interesting about yourself. So there it was, I’m Sierra and I do gymnastics. Easy enough.
But more recently, I’ve started to try and stray away from making Sierra and gymnast synonymous with each other. I am much more than a gymnast and there’s a lot more to me than the sport I enjoy doing. So I’m going to tell you more about who I am as a person and what makes me, me.
I love school and learning. I’m also always doing something.
I’ve never been the person who dreaded going to school. Sure, I’ve complained about being too tired to sit in class and not wanting to do insane amounts of homework in the one hour I was home before practice, but I still loved school. Just like anyone else, I have my favorite subjects and things I find more interesting than others, but when it comes down to it, there’s nothing more rewarding than learning. It allows you to challenge yourself and see your own potential in something even before you’ve actually mastered the information. It’s so fun to be able to see what you can teach yourself and what you can learn from others because the more you know, the more you’re going to be able to do.
I won’t lie, I took COVID pretty personally.
When quarantine hit, there were probably about five days where I felt extremely sorry for myself. I was mad because we were sent home in the middle of March instead of May, our season had been canceled, and COVID-19 truly came out of freaking nowhere. That past weekend we had been at the airport on our way home from Oklahoma and before the next weekend even came, we were literally being told to pack up. Huh?
So when the day I dreaded finally came, I got dry needling at one of our athletic facilities and was in the car with my dad less than two hours later on my way back to Illinois. Once I made it home, I sat in bed, watched tons of Netflix, and came out of my room only to eat dinner and talk to my family. That pattern repeated for the rest of that week.
Let’s just say I got sick of that very quickly. I got sick of feeling unproductive and felt as if I was wasting tons of my time watching shows that were entertaining, but doing nothing for me. Within the next couple of weeks, I started to see my email pile up with a lot of opportunities that I had simply ignored back when we were in school. At the time, I felt entirely too busy to do anything besides my classes and my gymnastics. For goodness sake, we were literally in season. I had no time to do anything else. There wasn’t time for me to join any clubs, meet with any resources, none of that.
Or so I thought.
I guess it took an entire pandemic for me to realize that I had so many opportunities right in front of me that I wasn’t utilizing at all. It wasn’t out of laziness, but rather out of a pretty narrow mindset. I like to think of myself as being relatively open-minded and willing to do new things, but when I get into a habit, it’s hard for me to see the advantages of switching things up. I was completely content with my weekly schedule of having the occasional morning lift, classes, practicing, and then competing. Why should I add anything else into the mix?
But here I am, writing a blog. I never thought that would happen. I never thought I would have hopped on LinkedIn and learned the magic of networking. I never thought I would make my own website, or even have a summer internship. Until I was at home for three months trying to figure out what I was slacking off on, I never thought there was enough time to do things outside of what I was already doing. I sat down and actually tried to recognize where my energy was being put and if its distribution matched what my goals are for myself.
And surprise, it didn’t. With gymnastics, I was doing exactly what I wanted to do and I couldn’t be more proud of myself. In school, I kept my focus and continued to be a good student and get good grades. In regards to life after sports, I wasn’t doing anything at all and that needed to change. So I made those changes.
It’s how I’ve always been.
As long as I can remember, I’ve heard my parents say, “Sierra doesn’t get cheated”. They said I was always doing something, and couldn’t just sit still. Once I woke up in the morning, they could bet that I would probably do something almost every minute of the day that I’d consider ‘productive’. When I came home in March, by April, my dad would come home every day and jokingly ask what laundry-list of things I’d done that day. He knew I’d always have an answer for him. It comes down to the fact that I simply hate the feeling of wasting my time in unproductive ways or missing the opportunity to work on something that could benefit me in the long run.
This mindset is great because I will work far ahead of schedule and get everything I am doing done on time before it’s even needed. I love the feeling of being over-prepared. On the other hand, it’s hard for me to step back from the things I’m doing and actually let myself off the hook to just relax. So that’s something that I’m working to try and find the balance between. I don’t want to work myself to death, but I also do not want to go back to missing opportunities because I am afraid of getting a little busy. It’s a balance I’m just now starting to figure out.
So if that didn’t make it clear on who I am, check out Meyer-Briggs personality tests. I almost fit the exact description of the ESTJ personality. I love personality tests and seeing how telling they are, and that was one is pretty spot-on as to who I am. I’m extremely detail-oriented, task-oriented, honest, and driven. At the same time, it’s hard for me to just relax and sit back for a little.
Everything else.
With all of that, I love laughing. Laughing with my friends, family, or even by myself can turn my day around completely. And I’ll just say that Kevin Hart has my heart. But at the same time, so does my family. I love my family and I wouldn’t be who I am today without them. They’re who I turn to when I need advice, just need to talk, or need a hug. Pictures also are a huge part of my life. I love pictures and I’m a hoarder when it comes to deleting any of them. My 12,000+ camera roll can agree to that one.
Still no gymnastics? Here you go.
Gymnastics. I said I wasn’t going to focus on it, and I haven’t. But it’d be completely wrong of me to skip over the sport like it’s insignificant to who I am. Gymnastics is the place where I learned more about myself than I ever could have. I learned that I have a strong work ethic and that I will keep at something until I’m good at it. Even if my coach told me that I didn’t need to take any more turns, if it wasn’t good enough, I’m going to want to go again.
Within this sport, I also learned the importance of communication, teamwork, and relationships. I’ve been on a team with so many different people and I’ve learned that not everyone is the same. We all have different priorities, we all have different role models, and we all have different goals. It took me a while to understand this, but once you do, it makes your life a lot easier as you don’t get so caught up in what others are doing that you don’t agree with.
My comfort zone.
I’m not afraid to speak up.
I used to try and label myself as being more of an introvert, someone who sat back and really only expressed themselves around the people that they’re closest to. But as time has gone on, I learned I move with the environment I’m in. If I feel comfortable, you’re going to hear all of my ideas, thoughts, and viewpoints. If I don’t, I’ll be more reserved and come out when I feel like it’s the right time. When I am truly passionate about something, you’ll hear it right from me. As I get older, I’ve realized that people like feedback, they like good conversation, and they like honesty. There’s no reason to hold back when you have something to say, especially when someone is directly asking for your input.
I also consider myself almost brutally honest and the reason you see an almost there is that at the same exact time I hate confrontation. You can count on me to tell you like it is, especially once we’ve established a good relationship. But like I said, I don’t like having to bring up the difficult or awkward conversations, but I know that they’re necessary.
Change can be scary.
With all of that, I can get bored once I’ve done the same thing for too long. If you ask me if I like change, my answer will be no. But time and time again, the world proves to me that changes aren’t as bad as they initially seem. Even when I’m hesitant at first, which I typically am, I end up liking changes when they arise. The fear of not knowing how a situation will turn out because I haven’t done it before scares me, but there are so many good changes out there that I had to be nudged into making.
For instance, I had three days to decide if I was going to graduate early from high school. I struggle to decide on what color phone case I should get in a timely fashion and you’re telling me I have three days to decide if I’m going to leave for college in five or seventeen months? My entire life I looked forward to graduating in 2020. The year itself sounded cool and it was just how everything was supposed to work out. But then, there I was about to create the biggest change I’d ever experienced and I did it. As scary as it was, I couldn’t be more thankful I made that decision when I did. And sadly, 2020 did not live up to my (or anyone’s) expectations.
So, now you know a lot about me. You’ve made it this far. Why am I blogging?
The answer to that question is hard. I’ve thought about blogging for months and I feel like I’m at the point of why not? I’ve learned a lot and I know I’m going to learn so much more, so I’d love to share with others exactly that.
Oh, and I wrote about 25 blogs this past summer for my internship so I really don’t mind writing. It’s kind of fun to be able to write freely about my experiences and to help others learn from them personally.
I’m going to try and blog about what things I’ve learned that have helped me significantly. Self-reflection is important to me and doing by doing it, I can really figure out what things work for me and what things don’t. I’m writing for those who know me, for those who don’t, or those who simply love learning and want to learn, hear and read more about some things I’ve experienced and what’s come from them.
My mentality is a big thing that has helped me be successful up to this point and something I focus on. I always want to do more, so I try to find ways to do exactly that. Whether it’s more in the gym, with school, or time on things I’m passionate about, I always am trying to challenge myself. And this is where it continues.
Check out sierrabbrooks.com to see more about my education, career goals, and experience.