Personal Narrative: Strength From Within

Adrenaline pulsed through my veins like a race car; my knees started to buckle beneath me. My palms and face were sweat soaked with anticipation. My friend encouragingly nudged me forward. Fear trickled down my spine, sending me off the cliff of sanity.

My fingers fly. Adrenaline surges through my veins. My movements are jerky. The elephantine orchestra lumbers behind me. My fingers get snarled. I stumble. Heat swarms my face. Suddenly, I am plunged into an icy river, into another memory—I am practicing; sweat trickles down my back in rivulets, and there is dried blood underneath my stubbed nails.

My tired feet were raw and bleeding, and I could feel the sweat gleaming on my face and back begin to turn cold. I had just finished my third and last ballet class of the night. It

Over my years of school, one big influence on me has always been sports. Ever since a young age, I have always enjoyed playing and watching sports. In my four years in high school, I have fell in love with the sport of lacrosse.

I woke up and took one bite out of my pop tart but that one bite was all I could eat. My legs were shaking, and my heart was pounding. My dad told me, “It is a true honor to even make it this far so go out there and have some fun.” Once I heard this statement, I knew I was ready to go. I arrived at school and boarded the bus. The car ride was an hour and fifteen minutes of hearing the squeaking of the wheel on the bus. My teammates were getting their heads ready for the big game.

It was a cool saturday morning in february, as I was violently woken up by my alarm clock. I rose out of my bed, and started preparing for my championship hockey game later that day. I got up out of bed and refreshed myself as I stretched. I grabbed my dress shirt and my dress pants and went to my parents room to iron my clothes. Not knowing that the iron was already on and hot, I picked up the iron. The iron fell on my foot, and I frantically grabbed it off the floor. I hoped that it wouldn’t start a fire. My foot was burning with pain. I knew in my head that today was going to be a struggle. Unfortunately, it had to be on the same day of my league championship game.

PROMPT #2: PROMPT #2: The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?

Later that night, I would find out that I fractured my femur, clean into two. My doctor told me that I would be out from sports for at least nine to twelve months since it was an extreme injury. Normally, with being an athletic person, I was absolutely devastated. I knew that it was going to be a long recovery, but I did not know that it was going to be a mental setback as much as physical. At first it was nice to have my loved ones come around all the time to visit me and check up on me, but after a while they all moved on. They all headed off to enjoy their summer while I laid on the couch watching television and attempting to do some leg exercises. I had to have help with everything, which led to many arguments. Being independent, I abhorred the fact that I needed help with the simplest things, such as grabbing the remote or even getting up. I became so upset about it that I quit arguing about it. It led me into a lazy mindset that made me not feel as motivated to do things. Once I started physical therapy it felt as though nothing was changing. On our first day we had to so electroshock therapy on my thigh because I could not move the muscles on my

Overall, my first semester has been going pretty well. The semester is going like a roller coaster up, down, and fast. I have some bad days and some good days. Through this semester, I have many challenges I faced which I honestly did not want to face. Even though I just wanted to dodge or run away from the challenges, I still face them and fought through them. Some challenges I face this semester, hopefully not in the next, are procrastination, time management, and laziness. I have not only gone through challenges; I have also gone through successes. I am proud of turning assignments on time, passing tests and quizzes, completing my SCR points, and being involved in clubs. Being in Biomed has helped me grow as a student in the area of knowledge.

I am usually confident in everything I do, but not this time. My coach asked me, “Can you do it, Brooke?” I replied “yes, I got this!” I was too wrapped up in the moment to even think before I spoke. Several eyes of my teammates stared at me as I went for my tumbling pass. I fell to the floor in severe pain and I knew something was wrong. My heart rate increased as I laid on the floor with tears down my face. I did not understand what was happening, but I knew my career as a competitive cheerleader was over. The paramedics lifted me into the ambulance and I was off to the hospital. As I arrived at the hospital, the doctor took an xray of my leg. He told me that I had broken my leg. The doctor said it was the worst break he had seen.

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.

Growing up with a father in the military, you move around a lot more than you would like to. I was born just east of St. Louis in a city called Shiloh in Illinois. When I was two years old my dad got the assignment to move to Hawaii. We spent seven great years in Hawaii, we had one of the greatest churches I have ever been to name New Hope. New Hope was a lot like Olivet's atmosphere, the people were always friendly and there always something to keep someone busy. I used to dance at church, I did hip-hop and interpretive dance, but you could never tell that from the way I look now.

I felt as though my heart might fall and drop to the pit of my empty stomach. The only noise heard were the bricks of my pointes echoing off of the walls. Four lifeless bodies sat at the fore of me, all gazing emotionlessly at another dancer. Adrenaline was forcing its way through my veins,

In my 38 years of life, I’ve had to overcome plenty of obstacles. When examining my life, especially in my younger years, it showed me life consists of an assortment of minor and major obstacles. Facing an obstacle, especially a major one, and conquering it, awards me a triumphant feeling. Furthermore, this feeling did provide me with determination, willpower, and courage to take on any future obstacles that life can throw at me (Harrington, 2012). This makes minor obstacles to become like a cake walk.

That is, until I was nine and fainted at the sight of my own blood when I cut my finger.