Personal Narrative: My Ability To Lose Strength

A time I had to overcome adversity in my life was when I became injured during the middle of cheer tryouts. At the time I was very passionate about competitive cheer, and my goal was to make the junior five team. When I got to tryouts everyone was tumbling, stunting and doing the dance routine. My adrenaline was pumping as I went to warm up my tumbling and throw a roundoff, back handspring, layout. I was determined to accomplish this for tryouts and impress my coach, but I was still very nervous. As I was running into the roundoff back handspring, I knew something was bound to go wrong. The next thing I knew I was in the middle of the air and suddenly landed on my knees, with my ankle twisted under me. My face got bright

Feeling exhausted, I focus on my breathing. I breath in through my nose and then out through my mouth, breath in and out. Repeat. After passing the mile mark, my coach is shrieking for me to relax, because I am on my way to qualify for cross country states. The top twenty girls qualify, and I have been dreaming of this day since freshman year. All I have to do is hold my position, and then I am golden. Suddenly, my legs begin to feel like jello. My running partner slowly fades ahead of me, and I cannot keep up. It feels like I am running backwards as the rest of my teammates pass me one by one. Fighting fatigue, I tell myself I am finishing this race, whether or not I have to crawl like a turtle to do so. I am crossing that finish line.

Often many people dwell on their failures and dream about a time where they can go back in time and do things differently. I recall the summer transitioning from junior year to my last year in high school, I aspired to be thin like the models you see on TV or in any of the magazines. I decided to take it upon myself to exercise daily and limit my diet to healthier options. This method however, was taking too long for me, I needed to find a quicker way. My obsession with perfection took over and I began watching my caloric intake too closely. I consumed 500 calories a day and advanced my workout routine. I ran 2 miles in the morning, went home to sleep for a couple of hours and then went to Volleyball practice followed by another run. Eventually, after three months or so I grew so tired and so weak that I had to cut down on my workouts.

This semester of physical education has taught me countless amounts of new knowledge. In this class I had to set specific goals for myself to be accomplished throughout the semester. My five goals were to: run a mile in under six minutes thirty seconds, lose five pounds of fat by winter break, make my thigh muscles strong enough to squat one hundred and fifty pounds, to be able to bench one hundred pounds, and to be able to run up and down the entire stadium in under four minutes and thirty seconds. At the beginning of the year I weighed one hundred and thirty pounds. By the end of the semester I weighed one hundred and thirty eight pounds but I had lost five pounds of fat just to gain more weight in muscle. I was five feet and eight inches

As I looked out the diner window I noticed a robust man with a tattered brown homburg hat on. He was crossing the street, his buttons on his suit jacket undone like he had a hard day in the office. As a gust of unwanted wind blew his hair across his face I noticed how tired he looked. What does he do? What causes his fatigue? I watch him walk to the door, his shoes dragging behind him.

Fatigue. What a faithful friend. It creates frustration. It slows down daily functions. It removes extracurricular activities you once could accomplish. It causes you to not want to wake up in the morning. It encourages you to sleep when you’re supposed to be working. It tells you that you can’t do anything without the energy that it has stolen. But what can you do? Sleep more? What if it comes with some condition you have? What if the doctor has told you they can’t do anything. It’s something you must do yourself. Wow. I forgot; it steals hope. Hope that you can go hang out with your friends. Hope that you can pass your classes. Hope that you will one day overcome all your adversities. But I've determined the worst part of the day is the morning.

It was the beginning of senior year. I had been taking weight lifting class for about six weeks at this point, and I found it pretty enjoyable. I was growing steadily both physically and mentally in the weight program. I was also gaining more confidence, and I stopped relying on my peers to tell me what to do on each machine and lift. I even started setting up the weights so me and my partner, Dakota Rogers, could do the lifts more rapidly.

Is there anything you wish you would’ve been stronger to do? Since the 6th grade something not only me but the people that have been around me for awhile knows that I’m outgoing but there’s this persona that is put on. The need to let people know that I can speak for myself is something that is consistently being pounded into my head. If someone says anything to me weather its respectful or not I have to say something back or it starts the disappointment and consent thoughts of criticism.

For years and years I have struggled with the way my body has looked and even the way I have looked. Numerous of times I had been depressed because I couldn't be as pretty or as skinny as the other girls. It got to the point where I hated going out in public, but if I did I would always wear a jacket and pants even on 100 degree days because I was so ashamed and disgusted in myself I didn't want anyone else to see me. It's embarrassing to say it kind of took me until now to realize that I don't need to be like the other girls. I don't need a thigh gap, straight hair, freckle free skin, and a tiny body to be happy my thick thighs, curly hair, freckles, and curvy body make me happy and is beautiful and I don't need to change a thing because people

My weight has been something that I have struggled with all my life. When ever I would look in the mirror I would feel this uncontrollable sadness. Of course my appearance was something that motivated me to lose weight, but my health also played a huge role in my weightloss journey. So I set a goal to become healthier, I stayed focused and determined on reaching that goal.

I've been struggling with weight for the last 20 years of my life. I used to be in great shape when I was in my twenties but over time I've really allowed myself to slip into some bad eating habits and I stopped exercising entirely. My low thyroid, which my dad and my grandfather both had, really didn't help at all either. A few years ago I decided to make a change and I started eating more healthy, ingesting less calories, and also burning more due to exercise. I was going to the gym 4 times a week!

Last weekend, I was at the Tupelo Wellness Center gym on the treadmill when I overheard two men having a conversation about bodybuilding. At first, I thought they were talking about pro wrestling where all the moves are predetermined like the wrestlers are performing in a theatrical way. Then, I later realized that the men were referring to a bodybuilding competition.

I know I should lose weight. It requires a lot of perseverance that I one time had and need to find again. Many of the reasons I should lose weight are very clear to me. I have read many articles and have heard what my doctor has told me. I lost over forty pounds about three years ago, unfortunately, I gained it back two fold when I was pregnant with my daughter. I still have not been able to get rid of this weight since she was born. Sometimes it causes me to get tired just from going to the grocery store. I also found out in September of last year that I have hypertension (high blood pressure) which effected my vision drastically by the following November. Other problems are social such as the

One of my protective factors was sociocultural, the supports from love’s one. When I first came to United States 11 years ago, I could not speak any words of English. Students would sometimes made fun of me because of my broken English, and I was sad. However, with the support of my ESL teachers, friends that have been here longer than I am, and my parents. I got through my years, it was tough but I couldn’t do it without their

After years of pretending I was fine, my sister hands me the phone. I force my hands to lift the phone that suddenly weighs ten tons more than it did a second ago towards my ear. It burns against my skin as if it was made of hot molten lava from a newly burst volcano. I notice my mother staring at me while I try to put on a brave face for her. However, I am not okay. Actually, I am far from being okay because inside I am screaming at the top of my lungs but no one hears me. Suddenly, the phone speaks. My father, who I have not spoken to since I was three, is calling me through the phone.