I really liked sports and athletic stuff, but I was a total

Joe Keery once confessed with disarming honesty: “I really liked sports and athletic stuff, but I was a total nerd.” Though spoken lightly, these words reveal a deep and timeless truth: that human beings are not bound to a single mold, nor confined to the narrow categories that society often tries to impose upon them. In Keery’s reflection, we glimpse the eternal struggle between identity and expectation, between how the world sees us and how we truly are. For he teaches us that one may love sports and still be a nerd, that passion and intellect, strength and curiosity, need not be divided.

The ancient world, too, knew this truth. The Greeks praised the ideal of the kalokagathos, the harmony of body and mind—the belief that a man should be both strong in the gymnasium and wise in philosophy. They revered those who could wrestle in the arena by day and debate in the agora by night. Keery’s words remind us that this balance is not a contradiction but a harmony, that to embrace both the physical and the intellectual is to live more fully, to embody the completeness of human potential.

Yet the world often mocks those who do not fit neatly into one category. The nerd is seen as awkward, bookish, consumed by games or study; the athlete is seen as strong, popular, driven by physical triumph. But Keery’s life reveals what the ancients knew: these are illusions, shallow masks. A soul can burn with love for the thrill of the game and still hunger for knowledge, imagination, and art. Indeed, it is those who cross boundaries who often rise above them, shaping new paths for others to follow.

Consider the story of Leonardo da Vinci, who studied anatomy with the precision of a scientist and painted with the passion of an artist, who designed flying machines yet also mastered the grace of human form. Was he not both “nerd” and “athlete” of the mind and body? Or think of Bruce Lee, a man of martial strength who also studied philosophy, poetry, and the flow of thought. These figures show us that labels are prisons, and that greatness blooms when one dares to embrace the fullness of their nature.

Keery’s words also echo with encouragement for the young, who often fear being “too different.” To say “I liked sports, but I was a nerd” is to show that identity is not a chain but a tapestry, woven of many threads. What may seem contradiction is in fact richness. To love more than one world is to live with greater depth. The nerd who plays sports learns teamwork and discipline; the athlete who studies deeply gains wisdom and perspective. Each strengthens the other, like the two wings of a bird lifting it higher into the sky.

The lesson, then, is clear: do not let others define you by narrow categories. If you love athletics, pursue them. If you are drawn to books, games, or study, embrace them too. Never believe that you must choose one path and forsake the other. The strength of your character is not in your conformity but in your wholeness. The ancients remind us: balance of mind and body is the path to virtue, the way to become fully human.

So I say to you: be unafraid of contradiction. Let yourself be both athlete and nerd, artist and scientist, dreamer and doer. For it is not contradiction, but completeness. The world may try to divide you into categories, but the wise know that a soul with many passions is richer than a soul confined to one. Live like Keery’s words—embrace all of who you are, and let your life be the harmony of many loves, woven together into a single, powerful whole.