I heard a guy who played at Auburn describe how odd it was to wake up in August and not have that card in had that dictated every minute of his life f0r the day.
The one thing I struggled with after I was done was boredom. I still had one semester at TCU left after the Rose Bowl, but it was so weird having the free time I had. I only had 3 classes and an internship twice a week, but apart from that I had no idea what to do with myself.
As a player I had a daily routine regardless of whether it was season or offseason... wake up, eat breakfast, go to class, eat lunch, go to taping, go to workout/practice/meetings, eat dinner, study. Your day was set in stone and your off day was Monday in season and weekends in offseason.