Personal Essay: How Liz Murray Changed My Life

Overcoming adversity is a challenge that everyone has to face. Some good examples of people who overcame adversity are the Boston Marathon runners, John J. Pinder, and Malala Yousafzai. They all had challenges to face, but they never gave up. Overcoming adversity is going to be hard, but the ending will be worthwhile, that’s why patience is needed to overcome adversity. Life is like a roller coaster, full of ups, downs, inside outs, sometimes you may start out slow, but as you go along, you speed up, in adversity, it may take some time to think about how to overcome it, but you’ get the hang of it and will eventually overcome it. Malala was faced with a lot of problems and challenges, but she pulled through and overcame adversity.

The themes High Noon and The Most Dangerous Game are actually mostly alike. In both of the stories, the main characters are alone, being hunted, learn about how selfish people can be, and are usually the people who hunt. In The Most Dangerous Game, Zaroff doesn't care about anyone or anything, and only shows the slightest bit of emotion when Rainsford kills one of his best dogs. "'You've done well, Rainsford,' the voice of the general called. 'Your Burmese tiger pit has claimed one of my best dogs. Again you score, I think, Mr. Rainsford.'" This happened again when Ivan gets killed. General Zaroff stops for a moment, and then moves on like Ivan was just another one of his toys that had to be replaced. In High Noon, Will Kane is left for dead by his friends and then told to leave the town. Also, he gets no help from anybody when they learn that Frank Miller is coming back to town to kill him. Even though the themes might be alike in many ways, in High Noon,

Everyone has to experience adversity one time or another during their life, but it is how you respond to the adversity who makes you who you are. Two prime examples of people who overcame adversity is Victor Cruz and Iliana Roman. In Bill Pennington’s essay, “Defying the Odds: Victor Cruz” and Iliana Roman”s essay, “First Job” they tell us about the different adversities that they endured during their life and how it shaped into the person that they are today. Although Pennington and Roman’s essay are about the lives of two different people they convey a similar message of overcoming adversity through experience, pathos, and connotative diction.

Most everyone has to overcome some type of adversity in their life. Some things are harder to overcome than others, but it’ll always be worth it in the end. These past few years I have been facing the challenge of a life time.

Without overcoming adversity Jim Abbott would never be the first baseball player with only one hand.Malala Yousafzai would have never brought attention to girls education.Many of the runners from the Boston Marathon would have never ran the race again, and even never race again their life. Adversity, is hard to overcome, but ask is it worth it in the

One of the greatest challenges I had to face was my transition from Haiti to the United States. During that transition, I was faced with a lot of adversity. It varied from fitting in, academic struggles and remaining focus. Throughout all the trials and tribulations that came with it, I was able to be resilient. In my own words, to be resilient is to allow challenges to impact me in a positive way where at the end I can say I am an overcomer.

Helen Keller once said, “Although the world is full of suffering, it is also about overcoming it.” Helen Keller faced a lot of adversity and obstacles in her life. But she got through it. Everyone faces obstacles in their lives, some more than others, but no ones life is just a sunny sea. I will be telling of four stories that are full of amazing people, who, against all odds powered through obstacles and kept going with their lives and competing their dreams against all odds.

One situation in which I overcame adversity is making b-team basketball for White Knoll High School. Basketball has always been a love of mine. I first fell in love with basketball when I went to an Atlanta Hawks game with my dad when I was 5. Afterwards, my dad purchased a basketball goal to go over the garage and we spent most our weekends playing in the driveway. The next year my dad signed me up for a recreational league in the area, and I played in the same league for 5 years. My dad was my very first coach. The pride he'd have on the sidelines when I made shots or played good defense forever cemented my love for the game of basketball.

I have overcome lots of obstacles in my life. They weren't the easiest to overcome, but I did it. There is one obstacle I had to go through which made me a strong individual mentally and physically. I lived in New Jersey for my entire life. I grew up there, I had all of my family and friends in Jersey. I was sure my future was going to rely in Jersey. During 7th grade, I got the news that we were going to move to North Carolina. I was thrilled to move to another state. As each day passed, I thought how I would have to start in a new school and make new friends. Every time it struck me knowing that I would have to start a new life. I was nervous not knowing what would happen to my future. I wanted to stay in New Jersey because I was scared of

Oprah Winfrey has experienced a lot of trauma in her child hood. She was sexually abused by relatives and got pregnant at an early age, unfortunately she lost the baby. Oprah has gotten through a lot in her life but still managed to become one of the richest and successful women. She is a prime example of resilience. I believe myself to be resilient. I have not gone through the same trauma as Oprah, but I have had my own hardship. I come from a low-income family and have watched my father not only abuse alcohol and drugs but my mother. Eventually my parents divorced and my mother, brother and I moved away. I watched the people around me get in to trouble with the law and get pregnant at early ages. All I knew was that I did not want to end up like that. Thank God for my mother, my faith in God, a special teacher who showed me nothing but support and my motivation to make it. Now I am that support for my

Everybody has challenges in life. People that are able to conquer their obstacles are very amazing. Elizabeth Kübler-Ross once said '' The most beautiful people I've known are those who have known trials, have known struggles, have known loss, and have found their way out of the depths.'' This quote basically means the most outstanding people are the ones who are able to dominate the difficulties that come in their way.

Many people throughout history have also faced adversity and have been resilient through it. For example, Tyler Perry; he had a terrible childhood, he was physically and sexually abused as a child, kicked out of high school, and tried to commit suicide twice in his lifetime. Still, through all his hardships, he produced and starred in his first theater production, I Know I’ve Been Changed, which failed. Therefore he obtained odd jobs to pay for the production; finally on the seventh run the show broke through. Through all his hardships he never gave up and today has a successful career as a writer, director, and actor. Oprah Winfrey also endured a rough childhood because of sexual abuse, she had a child at fourteen who passed away two weeks after. She continued on to finish high school with honors and get a scholarship for college. She worked her way up from TV anchor to a creator of her own network. Scientist Stephen Hawking was diagnosed with ALS and through his colleague, friends, and family’s support he became a great scientist. Through his perseverance Hawking managed many accomplishments such as his published book on the theories of the Big Bang. Nelson Mandela was also a person with great resilience who dreamed of racial equality and spent 27 years in prison for it.

I was out of place, a quiet girl whose clothing was obviously not fashionable, lucky if she had a bag lunch, and no reason to be confident. I was picked on relentlessly by others who recognized an easy target. My chaotic home life was never conducive to good grades, or school for that matter. No one I knew was a role model and no one volunteered to step up to be one. With no social life and a toxic home life, my grades plummeted before they had a chance to climb.

Growing up, both of my parents were always working, that left me at home without adult supervision. It was great doing whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, which was mostly hanging out and playing with my friends. School was always an after thought and when it was time for me to turn in assignments or take a test I performed miserably, but I was quick in coming up with excuses. Worst part was that I believed them. This trend followed me through high school and into college. My excuses finally caught up with me when I got dismissed from Long Beach City College for having poor grades.

My mother resiliently conquers obstacles. When my parents divorced, my brother and I decided to live with my mother. We did so knowing she was a teacher who only made $30,000 a year in which to support two teenagers. She hit the lowest point of her life when we moved into public housing. A far cry from the upper middle class lifestyle we had known. However, she never complained, never wavered, and gave us all she could. A year post-divorce, she gave up her dream career of teaching to take a higher paying job in insurance. Through this, my mom taught me my greatest lesson. Life is about facing change. The outcome of that change can turn into one’s greatest move or it can become one’s downfall. It is all about how one responds to it. I learned