Personal Reflective Essay: Freeskiing

Recently, I challenged myself to ski the lone double-black diamond at my local mountain. While this may seem enterprising in and of itself, it was a distinct challenge on this day owing to the fact that it was my first time back on skis in nearly three years. Up until then, depression had thwarted me from enjoying my preferred winter pastime. At the crest of the slope, I peered over the precipice and knew it would be strenuous, that my legs could give out, but I went for it anyway. My run happened to be a messy one and I did indeed fall, but how else would I get back into skiing shape and improve if I didn’t first try?

I have always had a love hate relationship with writing. I like to think of myself as a very creative person who enjoys being expressive with my words, that is until it comes to putting them down on paper. I have always pride myself in having an expansive vocabulary and ability to articulate my emotions clearly from a young age. I had always excelled in my Literature and English courses in High School but soon found a stronger calling in public speaking and presenting. Though a daunting task for many I always found it so much easier to speak my mind then try to format my thoughts into an essay. Writing is one of those skills that if you do not continue to practice you can lose strength in rapidly.

Writing, to me, is flinging “the gossamer thread” that Whitman describes. It’s basically my want to be understood. If I can somehow word an idea just right then it’ll serve as a bridge between myself and the reader better than any conversation could. The few times I’ve reached this sweet spot and created something I’m proud of has induced a kind of happiness I think is only accessible through writing. But while I do enjoy writing, I don’t think I’m very good at it. Constructing an essay or paper takes me far longer than it should. I tend to overthink each sentence, rewording and rewriting until they become borderline nonsensical. Because of this, writing can sometimes bring me as much stress as it does joy. I blame this on two things: my perfectionism

Freewriting is a new idea for me in writing. When I do freewriting, I won’t be restricted by rules and grammar, so I don’t need to think too much about what I’m going to write about. It’s really simple and relaxing.

Reading books offers more ways to look at life. Writing impacts my life in different ways also. For some people, writing can help you get through problems you’re dealing with and help you express yourself. Writing journals is my favorite writing form. Listening to music can compare to reading and writing; example, music artist write whatever they’re going through and express themselves.

My parents thought that my fascination with the winter sport would be short-lived, however, within two years, I had joined the alpine ski team. Soon skiing became the focus of my weekend as I drove to Tahoe every Saturday morning. I eventually joined the competitive ski team which added another dimension to my life. Every morning we would practice on the race course followed by an afternoon exploring challenging trails filled with tricky obstacles. Every risk I took while skiing made me more confident and ready to take on challenges in other aspects of my life. When I went backcountry skiing for the first time, I finally felt in complete control of my life. Rather than letting fear and doubt dictate my life, I chose to take risks and make opportunities for

Explain how you were able to use your existing knowledge and competencies from many subjects to succeed in your task.

Writing is an amazing tool and talent. It is incredible to be able to express my feelings and thoughts on paper through thoroughly thought over words in fancy fictional poetry or possibly persuasive prose, utilizing fun literary devices and bending my readers’ minds to feel whatever it is I intend for them to feel. As a reader, it is awe-inspiring to immerse myself in the worlds that authors paint for me in their verbose narrations. I tend to very much enjoy both reading and writing as long as I am not being forced to do either.

Writing allows me the opportunity to see things in a different light, a new perspective if you will. The more I write the more I become aware of the

When I am not working at my grocery store, I coach a high school bowling team. I have been bowling for many years and coaching for two. Since I took over the team, we have won back-to- back state championships. However, with any sport comes strategic thinking between the head coach and his assistants. Before every match, I and my assistant coach have to create a line-up that obtains stressful strategic thinking. The way bowling matches work is that we have a team of six bowlers and each bowler is matched up against their opponent on the other team. If that person wins their game, they get a point. The most points at the end of the match wins the match. So, when writing my lineup, I have to determine which players to match up to the other team’s players. I could put my strongest player against their strongest player and maybe get a point, or I can put my strongest player against their weakest players and guarantee a point. Also, I could mix up my lineup and place the bowlers in any lineup.

Never mistake a single mistake with a final mistake”- F. Scott Fitzgerald. When it comes to writing I have never really been good at it I have always needed a little extra help on writing a good essay. I remember always having trouble especially now that essays are expected to be excellent. I never understood the importance of writing an essay until I took INRW. This semester in INRW I have improved my writing skills by practicing paragraph structure, creating a thesis statement, and using MLA format.

     From a very young age, writing has been a passion of mine. Through writing I have developed an

Writing has always played a huge role in my life. I’ve been reading writing for as long as I can remember as I have an immense love of reading. This love would grow into a love for writing as well; I still stumble upon journals and writings from my five-year-old self about the happenings in my kindergarten class. As time would go on I would discover academic writing, and how to convey my thoughts on what was the topic of student that particular year or semester in my schooling. Later, writing would become a constant for me, and a comfort; I was known to my friends as always having a journal, and a pen on my person. I learned to write down my feelings and my thoughts, song lyrics that were in my head, reflections for the day. I learned how

Writing is a tool that we have all been using in one capacity or another since we were probably kids. I remember as a youngster when I could not express how I felt about a particular issue I was told to write it down so I can make more sense of my feelings. Those are my first experiences with writing and where my relationship started develop. As I've gotten older, I have learned to really Express my feelings rather good or bad in my writing. This is where I fell in love with it. The fact that it doesn't matter what the circumstance or the situation is, I can put it on paper and it automatically makes sense. There are so many things writing has taught me over the years and I am very excited about it because it gives me a pleasure that I

I began to think to myself, like many others, that I was destined for a life of mediocrity, I wanted financial freedom, but knew that working for someone else and trading my time for their money was a dead end. There is nothing wrong with that, with the illusion of financial stability of a job. Knowing that if you give up most of your free time, a "steady" pay check should be there... But what if you want more? I know if you quit, you fail, so I started again. I started researching online business opportunities. I ran into several people who want me to buy their ebook that would tell me what I needed to know to make money online. What I found out is that I needed an ebook of sometimes unless information for people to buy, then I would