{"id":2550,"date":"2019-05-09T14:00:34","date_gmt":"2019-05-09T14:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/?p=2550"},"modified":"2019-05-07T18:41:16","modified_gmt":"2019-05-07T18:41:16","slug":"a-journey-that-started-with-a-reality-check","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/2019\/05\/09\/a-journey-that-started-with-a-reality-check\/","title":{"rendered":"A journey that started with a reality check"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n

This whole journey started back in 2012 when my parents asked me, \u201cSo what are you doing with your life?\u201d It\u2019s kind of a million-dollar question to ask someone, and normally you do not realize what you are doing until questioned about it. <\/p>\n\n

At the time I was working full time at Whataburger putting in about 50 hours a week, playing soccer and going out with friends without a care in the world. I started school at Del Mar in Corpus Christi. <\/p>\n\n

While there I struggled through school and put work and social life ahead of it. I was a C average student that really went through the motions of school, and even contemplated on dropping out. <\/p>\n\n

While working another overnight shift after the bar rush at Whataburger, an older coworker and I were talking and he said, \u201cYou remind me of me when I was your age.\u201d This gave me a reality check that if I keep going the way I am, I\u2019ll end up here just as this guy has. I did not want this to be my life, because I knew I was better than that. <\/p>\n\n

I quit my Whataburger job and went somewhere I could pull back on my hours and work on my future and self. I then graduated from Del Mar in the fall of 2015 with an Associate\u2019s degree in Kinesiology. <\/p>\n\n

I almost attended Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi (TAMUCC), but because it was overfilled in the field I wanted and I did not want to take a break from school I came out to TAMUK for orientation. <\/p>\n\n

After orientation I just had that feeling. I knew I was meant to be here.
I will never regret coming out here for the two-and-half years I attended, traveling from Corpus to Kingsville and waking up at 5:30 a.m. every day.
Therefore, as I go on into this new chapter in my life I owe some people my success. <\/p>\n\n

I want to thank TAMUK\u2019s athletic department, with Joe Biedron giving me the opportunity to work with others and learning from David Brock, Dennis Hawkins. <\/p>\n\n

I also want to thank my Sport Business Professors Dr. Daniel J. Burt and Dr. Brian Menaker, and all TAMUK staff and faculty. <\/p>\n\n

Most of all I want to thank my parents. Thank you for your continued support and never giving up on me. <\/p>\n\n

I would never want to change a thing that has happened to me, because it has made me into the man I am.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This whole journey started back in 2012 when my parents asked me, \u201cSo what are you doing with your life?\u201d It\u2019s kind of a million-dollar… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[71,106,107],"ppma_author":[172],"class_list":["post-2550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion","tag-farewell-tamuk","tag-kinesiology","tag-monreal-reflects-on-his-time-at-tamuk"],"aioseo_notices":[],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"authors":[{"term_id":172,"user_id":17,"is_guest":0,"slug":"aaron-monreal","display_name":"Aaron Monreal","avatar_url":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/wp-content\/litespeed\/avatar\/2c66014a33fcdf11bc7da826a8a82d7d.jpg?ver=1778639391","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2550"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2554,"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2550\/revisions\/2554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2550"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=2550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}