Login

***sköldpaddor*** · 05-29-2021, 05:32 PM

Hey everybody - Gunnar here again. Here we are at the end of another season, so it’s time for me to write another one of these blogs. Unfortunately, I come to you again at the end of another playoffs elimination, another season going home without a cup. I try not to sound ungrateful about this stuff, because last year really reminded me what a privilege it is to get to play in the playoffs in the first place, and I know I just won a cup two seasons ago, but I think that just makes me want to do it again even more. Like, now that I know what it’s like, I just want to feel that way again. Sometimes I wish I could go back and just…relive the first ten minutes after we won, just so I could really focus on every minute of it. Everything happened so fast, and I wish I could just go back and kind of…live in the moment just for a little bit.

But that’s impossible, because time travel isn’t real, so all you can really do is just keep trying to make it happen again. And we couldn’t do that this year, which really sucks, but I’m trying not to get too down about it because there were plenty of people who played just as hard as I did this year who didn’t even make it to the playoffs, so…you know, just trying to count my blessings.

And as much as I wanted to get it done this year, I’m also kind of relieved to have a little down time before worlds. I don’t know if I mentioned this last time I wrote in here, but I’ve taken a management role with the Swedish national team during the offseason and I’m really looking forward to working with Ola and some of the other folks there as we go into our international tournament season.

I’m also really looking forward to reconnecting with some people who I don’t really think wanted to talk to me during the playoffs, and that’s not something I really blame them for because, well, I’ve been there. Last season, I kind of coped with not being in the playoffs by just wandering off to Toronto and throwing all that untapped emotional energy in to their playoffs since I didn’t have any of my own, but that hasn’t always been an option and I don’t think it always would have worked, either, that was just the place I was in emotionally at that point, that was what I needed. But there were times in years past where I didn’t want to talk to anybody while I was processing that kind of disappointment, so I definitely understand that, and I’m just really looking forward to hopefully catching up with people now that I’m done for the season and not just hanging out reminding them of stuff that makes them unhappy.

I have some plans for the offseason already that I’m pretty excited for. I think I’m going to Vienna with Carpy to check out coffee shops before worlds, and then we’re all off to Estonia (a place I have never actually been) for worlds, which…again, I’m very excited for that. It’s been really cool to get to see some of the behind the scenes work that goes into putting together a roster for the tournament and making sure everybody has all the resources they need.

After worlds I guess I’m going to kind of just see how things feel. I kinda need a tune-up, a few things that are achy and all that, a lot of things that just getting in some rest will definitely help like it does every year. Depending on how fast I start feeling back in good form, I might do some traveling or something, I’m not sure yet. It also depends on what other people are doing, because it’s like a million times more fun to travel with friends than it is to travel alone.

I’m still playing D&D with JURT and Johnny and Ruggsy and Shep and Simon (and maybe EVO too eventually but the timing hasn’t worked out yet, and also we just got out of this haunted house starter adventure thing that took way longer than I intended it to). We can just blame that on me being a novice dungeon master, but anyway, we’re out of that now and about to get into the real meat of the campaign, so I’m looking forward to that.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how important it is to find joy in as many places as you can in life. I’ve had kind of a down year mental-health wise. Nothing horrible, just stuff I’ve learned to deal with throughout the years, but it’s made me just even more determined to make the most of the times when I’m not struggling to maintain a baseline level of happiness, to really get as much as I can out of all of the good days instead of just taking them for granted. So that’s what I’m really going to focus on this coming season. I’m going to spend the time off just making sure that I come back next season as the best version of myself I can possibly be at this point in my life, and I’m going to trust that the right things will fall into place at the right time.

I want to celebrate a couple of things personally, too. I wasn’t focused on this when we were headed into the playoffs because I wanted to keep my attention on the job ahead of us, but I hit a new career points high this season (59 points, just shy of that 60 mark). I really felt good about the way I was playing for most of the year, although I hit a rough patch there near the end (sorry to everyone who chooses to read my emo tweets). I’m hoping that if I work as hard this offseason as I did last year I’ll be able to come back and really settle into a good rhythm early in the season.

I guess it’s kind of a sign of getting older, but I am really glad to have some time off. In most years in the past, I’ve just been itching to get back out on the ice as soon as it’s all over, but this year, I think I’m really going to enjoy having the time to travel and see most if not all of the people I care about.

I think a whole lot of things are going to look a lot different next year - we have expansion, which means a bunch of people are going to be on different teams. We are also going to be in a new division, which is going to be kind of an adjustment. After all this time in the Great Lakes, it’ll be really weird to be out west instead, with different teams in our division. Different, but good, I think. If nothing else, it will be really nice to have a little breathing room, room to kind of ease up on the tension between us and the teams that are currently in our division. I’m going to be really honest, I am really looking forward to being able to work towards a playoff run and hopefully celebrate getting into the playoffs without having to also feel shitty that our success means my friends have to be disappointed. So in that sense, I’m really very optimistic about next season already, but I still think some time off will do me good.

I have to go finish looking up coffee house tours in Vienna - if anybody has been there before and has any tips, please let me know, I am trying to make up for a grievous sin by making this the best trip ever, so I’m open to advice.

I hope everybody has a terrific off season - good luck to everybody playing in the finals, and HEJA SVERIGE.

Be well, be safe, be happy.
-Gunnar
x

Previous posts:
1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21

**_Blitz_** · 05-29-2021, 05:58 PM

Dude, your tweets aren't emo. I, for one, was very glad to know about Turtle Day.

*Carpy48* · 05-30-2021, 05:24 AM

Coffee house tour!

I don't have much advice, but I know of one traditional coffee house that was hyped (and expensive) and I felt rather disappointed with what they offered when I went there last time, so let's not go there.

Navigation

Extra Menu

About us