Personal Narrative: Never Giving Up

Have you ever had something happen to you that made you think you couldn't do what you loved anymore? Well I have. I thought I would never be able to play the sport I loved, basketball, anymore. When I broke my arm in fourth grade in 2012 taught me to persevere,that you can do what you love no matter what, and no matter what bumps you hit in your life you can always come back better.

My life began in privilege. From magnificent dollhouses, professional family Christmas pictures, and white picket fences, it all seemed so simple. Five-year-old me did not understand for the longest time what adversity was and how it would ever affect me. Twelve years later, I’ve come to realize that the adversity in my life has created diversity within me.

After much consideration my husband and I have decided that Michael will not longer be attending The Reason For Hope effective immediately. I welcome the chance to sit down and talk with you should you choose to discuss the situation. It was not easy to arrive at this decision but it has been a long time coming. We have been increasingly more uncomfortable with your program in recent months for the reasons below.

Yes, I do have several personal life experiences where I have overcame adversity and transformed into the person I am today. As a military child, I was blessed with the opportunity to spend my youth on Feltwell Royal Air Force Base in England and Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska. Since I lived in relative isolated locations, I functioned entirely on base; therefore, I was protected from the harsh realities of the world. Everyone I met understood me, for they experienced the same things I did. However, this changed in the winter of my seventh grade year. My mother’s father was diagnosed with Stage Four lung cancer, so my father applied for a Humanitarian Reassignment. Thankfully, the request was approved and my family was reassigned to Wright Patterson Air Force Base in

I've been fairly busy as of late. Notably, yesterday was a pretty interesting day. I'm not exactly feeling well, think I'm coming down with something. How often is it that a Jedi contracts a cold? Just not feeling as spry, I think. My stomach is churning as I type, something is missing, think I might have to take a reprieve sooner rather than later. Maybe I'll be gone for a cycle, maybe I'll be gone for a year. I don't know. I just know that I need to focus on other things. That's not the point of this entry, however.

I have gone through many experiences that have tried to tear me down. Life will never seize to throw obstacles my way. These obstacles, however, have proven to be positives that fuel me to be the person I never knew before. They teach me to stand out while taking a stand and be the powerful, independent woman that I am meant to be.

The lunch bell rings and I am on my phone checking the latest updates to the game. Instead of meeting with a teacher or getting started on homework during the free period, I spend it researching the tweaks in a few lines of code that will change my life for the next two weeks. The lines of code are insignificant, like the game itself, but I am absorbed in the game and the game owns me. In lieu of participating in activities after school, I rush home to continue progress in a virtual world. A world that can be turned of with the flick of a switch. Life becomes secondary to the game. My eyes burn into the night as I force myself to hurriedly finish the Tale of Two Cities reading before bed, at one o’clock in the morning.

Blood flow rushing through my veins, lungs heavily breathing through thin air, heart pounding loudly, I couldn’t bear. Slowly I unsealed my eyes from its long tender slumber, and grazed everything around me. Pitch black light loomed in my sight. I perceived nothing except darkness and a shadowy site. Terrified of my blindness, cascades of water started whooshing down my eyes. With all my might, I stretched out my long podgy arms as stiff as I can as it hit a large rigid structure similar to a wall. Four compacted fortifications built to confine me inside this hollow full of terror.

I was just going off the report. It just didn't sound positive. Plus the expected time to be back keeps changing. Also, consider that when he comes back he will not be in game shape and the team will also have to adjust to him being back in there as opposed to being use to him not being there. So at first it was back for the last four conference games and now it's end of the season, which means he gets to play one game in the Big 12 tournament or maybe two. And if he is back for the tournament you have your own team having to adjust playing games, daily until you lose.

My current understanding of hope is a wishful feeling of expectations and an aspiration of certain things to happen. Having hope can also just simply be a feeling of trust that something will happen or be intending to do things if they are possible. My understanding of despair just stems from my understanding of hope. Despair is lacking any and all hope. Despair leads to complete discouragement, which often is accompanied by unhappiness, grief, desperation, and distress. I believe these two feelings to be closely related because in a sense you must have one for the other to exist. Having these expectations and aspirations fail are what ultimately lead to despair. Can you really experience despair without ever experience the feelings of hope?

Whether taking test, or practicing for a game, there is always the pressure of utter failure. That failure can either make you choke, and get the better of you or encourage you to try again, and try harder. I recall a time when I was in the third grade, and I felt defeated. There was this program called Awana where you memorize bible verses, and play games. Within the program they had there own competition for kids that can memorize questions, and answers,

Waking up, knowing the day was going to be the same, Elizabeth or Liz for short, was ready to go to school. Doing the same routines every day of school: waking up at 8:15, take a 10 minute shower, get dressed up, brush her teeth, do her hair, eat breakfast, walk out of her apartment, drive to school, and hang out with her friends until the bell rang at 9:15. Liz started the second semester in 11th grade, but now she has been in school for 2 months.

Muscles engaged and eye’s wide, the intensity flowing through my veins. About face on one, hands down on two, lift my leg to a needle elevating to place on her shoulder. While she swiftly pulls, a voice in my head counts five, six, seven, and on eight it snapped… and suddenly, my stomach became a sinking pit, and a wave of nausea hit.

Living with Multiple Sclerosis is challenging and multidimensional. It affects all aspects of life where an individual that has been diagnosed with MS becomes unpredictable and undependable, the identity and sensitivity of self are tested, and relationship with others might facing obstacles. ‘’MS is always in the back of your mind. If there is something you want to do, you always wonder if the MS will allow you to do it,’’ said Darlene that living with MS for 22 years. (Marcia Finlayson.2012).

Never giving up is something I have had to remind myself daily because no matter what