Anytime you play a team sport, the success of the team really makes everything better. It's nice. Ricky Williams More Quotes by Ricky Williams More Quotes From Ricky Williams I think sometimes when it comes to sports, and especially relationships between players and coaches, that people lose track, lose a sense of reality. Ricky Williams playersportsreality I'm closer to being happy. I'm doing things that make me happy. In football I loved to practice and I loved to play, but I hated to be in meetings, hated to talk to the media, hated to have cameras in my face, hated to sign autographs. I hated to do all those things. Ricky Williams mediapracticefootball I am an honest, God-fearing man who is intensely dedicated to being the best person I can be on and off the football field. Ricky Williams god-fearing-manfootballmen When you make that crossover from life to real life, when you're not treated as a child anymore but as a man, and you are no longer given the benefit of the doubt, it takes some courage to face that. Ricky Williams realmenchildren Sometimes success will get in the way of maturity - at least temporarily. Ricky Williams maturitysometimesway I've always been attracted to things that are taboo. I've never been afraid to go to that dark place. Ricky Williams dark-placestaboodark I had this notion that everyone was staring at me and judging everything about me, from my appearance to the way I talk and everything. Ricky Williams appearancejudgingway In therapy, I see myself in the mirror differently. Ricky Williams therapymirrors The moment I started treating my social anxiety disorder, I started feeling better. Ricky Williams anxiety-disorderfeel-betterfeelings I led the NFL in attempts the past two years and they really didn’t go out and get a quarterback to help me so I knew it’s going to be all on me again. I could see my mortality as a football player, that I’m not going to be able to do this much longer. It just became obvious to me that playing football for me is not going to be fun, not something I’m going to enjoy and it’s time for me to do something different. Ricky Williams funfootballpast I don't think people change. I think they definitely mature. But I think the essence of what I am today is the same as when I was five years old. It's just maturity. I've become a healthier, fuller expression of that essence. Ricky Williams maturitychangethinking I can look back at it now as definitely like an initiation into adulthood. Almost overnight in the NFL, I was put on a pedestal and I was supposed to be this icon or this image of what a professional athlete was supposed to be. I felt like I just got stuck trying to be someone else and I forgot who I actually was. Ricky Williams iconsnflathlete A team takes on the personality of the head coach. Ricky Williams coachesteampersonality After I won the Heisman Trophy, it just was OK, I’m supposed to go to the NFL and so that’s what I did. I didn’t really have any expectations and I didn’t really understand how things worked. Ricky Williams trophiesnflexpectations Now that I have conquered social anxiety disorder, I find pleasure in fans approaching me. Ricky Williams anxiety-disorderpleasurefans Depending on their fondest memory of you, most people hold on so tightly to their fondest memory they don’t usually let you be anything greater than that. And that’s one of the things I think I allowed myself to be a victim of earlier in my career. What I learned as I got older is I decide. I decide what it’s like for me, not other people. You can be whatever you’d like to be. You just have to choose it. Ricky Williams careersmemoriesthinking I allowed myself to think if I could be doing anything in the world, what would I be doing? And what came to mind is I'd be traveling a little bit, I'd be going to classes and I'd be going back to school. Ricky Williams classschoolthinking I've let a lot of things go, and obviously football is one of them. I think the hardest thing to let go is your self-image. That's what I'm working on now. Ricky Williams letting-gofootballthinking I like to live in places that are kind of off in the cuts so people can't really find me even if they wanted to. Ricky Williams cuttingkindpeople I had a lot of friends in high school and in college, and we had a good time. Ricky Williams lots-of-friendscollegeschool
