Overcoming My Obstacle-Personal Narrative

Everyday people struggle with various hurdles, how they jump over them is a different story. Like many other young preteens in the world I also had hurdles to learn how to jump over. Learning how to handle even the shortest hurdle was a struggle, the feeling of my emotions going up and down and just everywhere was more than overwhelming. As hard of the obstacle was I did learn how to understand and handle even the tallest hurdle in my life. When I was about fourteen, I found out my grandma had breast cancer. At that time, I didn’t necessarily know what that meant or what was going to happen. I was confused at first and then the symptoms started to creep up on her. The first thing I noticed was my grandma losing hair being so young and figuring

Being around the other students made my self esteem worse, I would feel so stupid around them. I didn’t really have a group of friends at this time so I would be lucky enough to talk to someone in

Until I walked onto the stage to take a bow, I didn’t realize that I just danced, acted and sang a solo. It took me a long time to get to that fifth grade Christmas play where I wasn’t shy anymore. Due to the fact that I wasn’t Darth Vader anymore, so I didn’t need a mask strapped onto my face to breathe at night. Asthma, respirators and surgeries were what my childhood consisted of and I would have time to, at most, socialize with my family. Years after my final surgery, my currently bubbly-self erupted from within and many of my friends never knew how I was before.

Tears are rolling down my face and the rest of the world is a blur around me. Waking up at 6:00 every morning to come here? Is it worth it? Hearing whispers and laughter as I walk down a hall that seems to be never ending. Yes, I have had obstacles in my life. Yes, I have been able to overcome them. I don’t know where I would be if it wasn’t for my friends and family.

I have had to deal with adversity a lot in my life. Whether it be losing playing time, or not even getting a fair chance because my family isn’t involved in the program. I’ve faced adversity in more than just sports; I grew up without a dad and it’s gotten to the point where I don’t have a mom either. Although I have had to deal with many hard experiences, I believe it's made me stronger, better person.

I lead my life according to the belief that, success is a measure of our perceived reality. In many socially oppressed communities, barriers to living a whole, productive, successful life is beyond the grasp of many. I represent a historically underrepresented population with an educational disadvantage. Firsthand, I have overcome economic, social, and health obstacles to achieve status of an undergraduate degree. Overcoming adversity unifies my experience as an ideal candidate to give a voice to socially oppressed populations in need of health and well-being opportunities. I desire to effect change on a larger scale than previous experience has allowed and to give socially oppressed communities opportunities to perceive their reality with new success.

Booker T. Washington once wrote “Successes isn’t measured by the position you reach in life. It’s measured by the obstacles you overcome” An obstacle I had to face and overcome would be the time I injured my ankle. How did I overcome this obstacle you may ask? I overcame this obstacle by being positive and having a good attitude, almost every step of the way.

Dealing with adversity and seemingly impossible challenges determines a central lesson I have learned in my life. In early childhood, I experienced severe brain injuries and a life­threatening coma caused by a major car accident. In the following years, I struggled with dyslexia, learning deficits, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. From 1994 to 2004, I faced a major family crisis due to the bankruptcy of my parents’ business, followed by a decade of financial uncertainty. Despite all difficulties, I enrolled in college and dealt with the accumulated stress in trauma therapy from 2008 to 2010. During this time, I also ran a successful web design and hosting company and learned first-hand about the importance of strategic positioning.

They are many obstacles in life that people have to overcome. Some people overcome them and get it accomplished and some people fail at it. I have had many obstacles in my life where I have failed something or achieved something. Somethings in my life have even changed the way I act or the way I present myself. I was always a three sport athlete all throughout high school and I was always active, busy, and competitive and it killed me if I had to miss a game due to a short term injury or because I was sick. I honestly cannot remember a game that I was not there for or if I was sick, I was listening to it on the radio. Sports were a big part of my life and still are a big part of my life as I play football for Marian. I have always been active and involved in something for as long as I can remember. I would play pick-up games of basketball or go outside and throw the football with my dad and older brother.

Making new friends everywhere I went took a lot of courage too. Whenever someone has to walk up to another whom they don’t know and lay their heart out on the line, it takes a lot of courage. For me walking up to someone and asking them to “be my friend,” for lack of a better phrase, was like walking up to that cute guy in math class and asking him out on a date, or trying to get his number. It scared me more than anything in the world and I was way to shy to do it. It takes a lot of courage to stop yourself from saying, “forget it, I don’t want friends, it’s not worth it.” This was one of my most feared things to do, since I am one of those people who needs other people, but is also horribly shy. I had to learn to get outgoing, and put my heart on the line. I also learned that when you get hurt just pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and

Failure is feared by many. The thought of failing cause great stress on anyone. Most think that failing could only change their lives for the worst, but often it changes their lives for the better. My life changing failure happened when I was in the third grade. Not only did I failed a spelling test, I got a zero on it. My transition into third grade did not go over well for me. I was moving and had to start at a new school, and with going up a grade I was getting more work to do that was more difficult than the years before. Now other people were able to cope more easily than I. This is because of my ADHD. My ADHD gave me great trouble when I was in third grade because I did not take time to cope with it and be able to function like everyone else at school.

Throughout everyone’s life they eventually meet some sort of obstacle they must overcome. The number of obstacles one must overcome is varied, and what type of obstacle differs from one person to another. One obstacle may seem like a small pebble to some people may be a mountain to others, and this different perspective is exactly what keeps people from truly understanding how you feel and the challenge in overcoming that obstacle. My obstacle was people, and the hardest part about getting past it was the pressure from my parents that it wasn’t that big of a deal.

What is life? Life consists of experiences, challenges, and achievements; all of which are building blocks that essentially create ones path to success. In one’s lifetime they can experience tough and difficult challenges. Sometimes these challenges become unbearable, especially when the odds are against you. However, going against all odds is something everyone is capable of doing, and to overcome these challenges everyone needs to have a “never quit” attitude in life. If we develop it, we'll overcome quite a bit.

Who am I? What do I portray? Am i the carrot, the egg, or the coffee bean? Throughout my life I have faced plenty of adversity. I’ve faced it at home, I have faced it through sports, and I’ve even faced adversity at places like church. It’s everywhere, all the time. I don’t always handle it to the best of my ability, though.

I would have to say this because I was very young and I didn’t know who I could trust. The older I got the more I struggled with this stage. I would say I struggled because you could never know who the right person was to trust. Another stage I would say I went through at this time is “Initiative Versus Guilt” (Zastrow and Kirst-Ashman). This is when a child learns to build relationships and or has a hard time doing so. Although I was very social, I was unable to know how to make friends. I would always feel guilty and would never know why I felt that way.