Capitan Mark Kelly Ever since I was a young girl I have always had great dreams and high expectations for myself. Anytime I was asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I would quickly reply” a lawyer” As the years went by I still had that goal in mind, but I began to realize that I was not exactly Ivy League material. Though I did work really hard in my classes, I was still at best average. During my junior year I took my SAT’s, and cried when I got my scores back. For many years I was scared to go to college because I thought I wasn’t college material.
There were many games and practices that I tried to play, and I was constantly going against my body and making myself worse rather than better. I ended up spending months in the hospital which resulted to me having to quit playing the sport that I had grown to love. I didn’t want to quit, and as hard as it was for me quit, and no matter how upset I got because I felt like I was letting my teammates down, I knew that my determination to play had allowed me to gain one more piece of knowledge that I use today. I learned that in everything I do and that if I continue to try, regardless of how many times it takes, I will eventually succeed. All I have to do to is put my mind to whatever I am trying to accomplish and stay determined, with giving up not even being an
Although life is not fair, it is only as difficult as each individual makes it. “I Am Still The Greatest” talks about how Muhammad Ali’s rise to the top was directly related to his belief in himself, and how even though now he is dealing with Parkinson’s, Ali still believes he is the greatest. When talking about his illness Ali writes, “Since that diagnosis, my symptoms have increased and my ability to speak in audible tones has diminished. If there was anything that would strike at the core of my confidence in myself, it would be this insidious disease. But my confidence and will to continue to live life as I choose won’t be compromised” (par.
When I was in my Junior High School years, I dropped out because I had really low grades and I was super behind in all my classes. My family and I were migrants; my entire childhood was spent in the fields and I literally mean in the fields not just working up North. I would spend half of the school year working with my parents and sisters, so by the time I went back to school, I was behind and very lost in all my subjects. I would stay after school every single day until I catched up with every missing grade that I had. Never did I enjoy staying after school just to fill up grades I never wanted to fail.
I had an answer, but I struggled terribly with putting it down on paper because I wanted this interview to “be perfect”. I was too worried about what I looked like or sounded like, so ultimately I had lost “my voice.” I went to my dad for more help. I had wasted a whole hour stressing over how to answer a few questions about myself. My dad told me something very important that day, he said, “The best way to impress someone is to be you”. After meditating on what he said to me I had at least something to put down.
Every day I woke up and rushed to school with the anticipation that my name would not be there. But for the first week of two, I managed to succeed. It wasn’t until a rainy Wednesday, two days from the final cut, that my name ceased to exist on the team roster. I was
My ninth grade was pretty cool until the last week of school I let my mouth get the best of me and said some things that I really should’ve not said and because I did I earned the next semester at the alternative school. When school started back I was very sad because I had to go to the “bad” school with all the “bad” kids and I was very nervous. Once I got there it was pretty cool and I really enjoyed it because the classes were smaller and you got more one on one help. My grades went up and my mom decided that I should spend the rest of the year there, which really messed me up because they did not offer any elective classes only the basics . My eleventh grade year was also a disaster because of the struggle of passing my biology state test and I was really distracted and just wanted to go back to the alternative school but my mom and the principle would not send me back.
For months, we enthusiastically planned out the details to go to Kenny Chesney’s concert, even to what we were going to wear. Kate seemed eager, until two days before the concert, when she told me she couldn’t go anymore. Her excuses were the usual ones “I have a bunch of homework,” “I have chores to do,” and “I’m too tired.” I was heartbroken. Although she tried to gain back my trust by assuring me that she would go some other time, I could never believe her. Her perspective had been different from mine.
At first the rehearsal was so quiet that I could hear a pin drop. I really thought there was no way I was going to survive that week if there were going to be such an awkward tension. As the rehearsal proceeded the dancers began to let down their walls and we started to mingle with one another. Gradually my shoulders started to rest. In conclusion, last summer I learned so much about my team, dance and myself.
I strived to succeed, so when I didn’t do my best I would get very upset with myself and try harder until I was the best. I hate the feeling of failure especially when I knew that I had tried my very hardest. My parents always told me try your hardest or don’t try at all, so anytime I lost at something I felt like I was letting them down. Like I said before the best feeling in the world is when your parents show pride in you, well how awesome that feels is coinciding with how horrible it feels when they are upset with me. Through the years I have learned what I am good at and what I don’t excel in.