This is the third installment of Rachel Breton's column, "After the Whistle Blows," in which the Sky Blue FC player explores the issues, emotions and tough decisions that soccer players and all athletes face when they're forced to retire from the sport that shaped them.

Birds learn how to fly, never knowing where flight will take them. -Mark Nepo

Sinead Farrelly is one of the greatest players women's soccer has ever seen. When she plays, she reminds us of why we play. With every touch of the ball, she exudes joy and happiness. Farrelly is truly an unsung hero—staying humble, she doesn't say much, but her feet certainly do the talking.

Yet last December, at the age of 27, due to injuries she sustained from a car crash, Farrelly announced she was giving up the sport that had brought her so much joy.

The accident took place over a year earlier in September 2015. Farrelly was driving when another car came speeding around the corner, skidded into her lane and hit her straight on the driver's side. The head-on collision deployed both airbags and totaled Farrelly's car, forcing her to climb through the back of the vehicle to get out.

[More from Excelle Sports: After the Whistle Blows: Learning to love life when you're forced to say goodbye to your sport]

"The accident was crazy because, at the time, I had no idea of the impact it would have on my future and my life," Farrelly told me. "At the time of the accident, I declined treatment from the ambulance—I just wanted to go home. In all honesty, I kind of regret not taking help from the paramedics. My instinct has always been to just pretend to be OK. That's what we learn as athletes and professionals—to push through it. That pain is weakness. I was hurting and I was too proud to admit it."

When she retired, Farrelly was on Seattle Reign FC's roster, although she had yet to play with the team. The year before, she had been on the Boston Breakers' roster but had sat out the 2016 season with neck and back injuries from the crash. Eight months later, she learned she had also suffered a concussion.

"All of a sudden, I just wasn't the person I had been for 25 years," she said of the effects of the concussion. "I felt so, so alone. Every moment was masked in this layer of fog that I could not seem to break through. I had no energy. I was depressed. I started distancing myself from everyone who loved me."

Suddenly, Farrelly, who started playing soccer professionally for the Women's Professional League in 2011 after a decorated career at University of Virginia, found herself in a dark place.

"My time since the accident has been the most difficult time of my life," she said. "Aside from losing my health and career, I was forced to face all of my demons. When I tell you that every single thing from my past came crashing down on me, I mean every single thing: family issues, sexual assault, abuse, a long history of an eating disorder … All of it. I felt like I was facing the wreckage without any clue of who I was. I felt like I had absolutely nothing."

The situation became unbearable and deeply overwhelming, especially immediately after the accident. Farrelly says she couldn't sleep or read, suffered terrible migraines and was even unable to walk or run. Facing what seemed like insurmountable challenges, she felt beyond hopeless in her own skin.

[More from Excelle Sports: Sinead Farrelly retires from pro soccer, one year after car accident]

"I did not want to live anymore. I would wake up in the morning so panicked because it felt too heavy to have to go through an entire day all over again," she said.

The accident turned out to also be a catalyst for Farrelly to question her real identity. The sport had been her fulcrum up to that point. She struggled, as many players do, to reconcile who she would be without soccer. Last December, she announced her retirement on Facebook.

"Soccer was my outlet when times were hard," Farrelly wrote on her page of the decision. "It was a place I felt safe, yet it continued to push me past my comfort zone day after day. Losing soccer for me was losing my identity. And with the loss of that came the loss of everything."

While Farrelly tried to come back to soccer, she knew she had to listen to her body. She knew she needed to rest, recover from her injuries and from her post-concussion symptoms.

"I had no desire to retire any time soon," she said. "It still makes me really sad I had to go out the way I did.