“I never had the time to understand what my life was outside of soccer.” For Bethany Bos, stepping away from professional soccer in 2025 became an opportunity to do exactly that. After years of competing at the highest level, from becoming the first player in history to reach the NWSL from the NAIA, to earning NWSL Rookie of the Year honors and winning an NWSL Shield, Bethany had built a dream career. But behind the accomplishments, she was struggling. She had been thinking about taking a break for more than a year, but fear kept her from doing it. Fear of letting people down. Fear of missing opportunities. Fear of what others might think. She reached a point where she couldn’t get through a training session without crying, and that was when she knew something had to change. Stepping away allowed Bethany to gain perspective and recognize that soccer, while incredibly important to her, was never meant to be her entire identity. It also gave her the space to put healthier boundarie...