Anthony Rizzo Writes: The Importance of Staying Away, but Also Staying Connected

At times like these, and on a day like today in particular, it’s nice to hear from a familiar face. For most of us, that means calling a fried or FaceTiming a parent or watching some comforting show. All good stuff.

But I appreciated, and wanted to pass along, a column written by Chicago Cubs Captain Anthony Rizzo, who is not only using this time away from the game to help support causes that need it in Chicago, but is also thinking about how people can take care of themselves right now.

You really should take a moment and read the whole thing.

Among Rizzo’s words:

“It’s just such a strange time. The more all of us can stay connected to others, the better we all are. Whether you are a professional athlete or a fan, just trying to stay positive right now, it is so important to keep moving any way you can.

You can be in your living room, doing pushups and situps. Maybe you don’t work out. Just do something to stay active as a way of not just falling into a hole because it’s very easy to do that.

We’re all used to socializing all the time. But right now, we are not. We are at home and it is easy to just sit around and do nothing, but for me, that just doesn’t work. My message and biggest piece of advice: Get into some sort of routine, daily, to get you through so you’re not just wasting away time. Somehow make the most of this forced downtime.

We have to keep moving and keep people encouraged. Sports usually does that. Sports brings people together who normally would not even think about conversing or socializing. Not having sports is so strange. But we have to stay connected.

I’m on a bunch of group texts with teammates and friends. That’s all you can do, especially in the big cities. I’m lucky right now I’m in my backyard so I can move around a little bit, but it’s safer to be in isolation. This is everyone’s opportunity to be a hero by staying away.”

written by

Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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