The other night I watched “A League of Their Own,” which is one of my favorite movies of all time. For those who don’t know, it’s a movie set during World War II that follows the story of the first professional all-female baseball league. The coming of this league started due to all the nation’s young, athletic men being drafted to fight in the war, leaving those back home in want of sports entertainment.

While watching the movie, I subconsciously compared their situation to the one we’ve all been going through for the last year. Circumstances change and we all must learn to adapt to what the world is becoming. While this may seem like a scary endeavor, good things can come out of every bad situation. Back then it was that women had the chance to play baseball at a professional level. Today it’s that in-person meetings are no longer necessary, and that healthy living is more prioritized.

I encourage everyone to examine how the pandemic has changed their life for the positive. I realize this may be a challenging task with how difficult this year has been, but focusing on the negative has never helped anyone. For me, this past year I was able to spend more time back home with my family, and I landed a job working for a pretty great newspaper with some pretty great people.

As someone who grew up playing softball all her life, I’ve always loved “A League of Their Own,” but it wasn’t until recently that I was able to appreciate the sacrifices and changes made back then that allowed the opportunity for a women’s professional baseball team to exist. We must all go forward looking for our own league or the silver lining to this monstrous gray cloud that hangs above us.