Overcoming Obstacles

“We are not what we've done. We are what we’ve overcome.” This set of wise words implies that our true identity is not defined by the achievements we have made, but rather by the obstacles that we manage to overcome and what we learn from them. Like most others, I faced some struggles growing up, and they have played a major role in who I am today. While, some of these struggles consisted of physical barriers in the way of my education, others were economic struggles, later serving as my motivational drive for doing well in school. Each of these has taught me valuable lessons and are the reasons why I am the person who I am today.

In my culture, society looks down at mental illness and when news of mental illness gets out in the society, one’s reputation is pretty much destroyed. My elder brother, Imran, was misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder when he was a teenager. My family was still living in Bangladesh at the time and my brother’s illness was treated as a secret by my parents. My parents went above and beyond to hide my brother’s illness because we come from a culture that is quick to condemn parents for their children being abnormal, my family felt very protective of the fact that we had mental illness in our family. Family visitation and guests in our home were strictly monitored by my mother and my siblings and I were coached to make excuses for my brother. My brother’s illness shaped me as a person because I realized that I needed to be able to overcome the obstacles life throws in my way in order to take care of my family.

In life, there are tons of challenges. Some are small and require little work to achieve, while others can be quite large, and take lots of hard work to accomplish. To be able reach these different goals, persistence must be shown, by always trying and never giving up when failure takes over.

There is so much suffering people have to deal with in this world. I believe we are given an obstacle we have to overcome. It just depends on the person’s inner strength and will to not give up and keep trying. Nancy proves this to be true she is different from others in her condition especially how she refers to herself as a cripple. Throughout the essay she writes about her experience and her journey with MS. The way she goes about it makes her readers not feel bad for her but to feel proud for her because she has not given up. Its shows us that she’s accepted the obstacle given to her and she is not giving up even knowing her illness doesn’t have a cure.

Obstacles and disadvantages are a part of life, and will always be there in your path. Some of the hurdles will be bigger than others, and some hardships will be easier than others. Whether it be a chair in your way or something you can't get over, obstacles will be there. The question is not how to avoid snags, but how can you turn the tables on them and have a positivist outcome. Flipping them to benefit you, and others around you to have a better outcome on the situation. There are three ways that I know that can help you achieve this, being optimistic, adding on to your armor, and using them as an advantage.

Growing up I lived with my mother, father, and siblings. Around the age 15 my mother and father separated. I have always been the person who set goals for myself. I had support from my family and friends with everything that i did. I had a pretty close relationship with my siblings growing up even though we were all very different. I played basketball from 3rd grade up until 10th grade and after high school, decided to go away to college.

“Be thankful for each new challenge, because it will build your strength and character.” Every once and awhile we will get our boots stuck in the challenges that we will have to trudge through to become stronger. Truly, we don't grow when things are easy or non-chaotic, rather we sprout into a growing tree when there is a rain storm. Life throws us overboard at every twist and turn so we have to batten down the hatches. Not only that, but we also seem to fall deeper into a bottomless pit when we attempt to take the shorter path. Overall, we have all faced challenges within our life, whether from a problem at home, to losing a soccer game. A maze that is endless, quick sand that swallows you whole; can both describe a challenge.

Overcoming obstacles in life is a vital part of our society and always has been, the challenges we faced in the past show the progress of today. As individuals we each face our own obstacles which change and grow us into valued citizens in our society. All the obstacles we have gone through has affected our world, the challenges we face today we must overcome in order to keep on progressing. Overall the importance of overcoming obstacles is a critical part in our lives, today as well as the past in order

“Challenges are what makes life interesting. Overcoming them is what makes them meaningful”. Obstacles are problems, given to us humans to solve. It could be something as big as being born with a disability or something as simple as learning how to ride a bike. Overcoming obstacles are never easy to begin with. Most obstacles are extremely hard and challenging. But by overcoming them, you’ll know why they are important. The importance of overcoming obstacles in life is to make you braver, stronger, and wiser. Everyone has their own obstacles to overcome, and some are illustrated by my own experience of learning how to ride a bike, John Green’s experience of going against his mental illness, and Thor’s experience of fighting against his very own sister, Hela.

Have you ever faced a crucial turning point that impacted yourself and others? Melba Pattillo Beals from the memoir, Warriors Don’t Cry, Jackie Robinson from the autobiography, I Never Had It Made, and Feng Ru from the article “ The Father of Chinese Aviation” by Rebecca Maskel all faced life-changing events. During their turning points, they prevailed and overcame difficult challenges. Melba Pattillo Beals, Jackie Robinson, and Feng Ru overcame challenges, faced turning points and had an impact on both themselves and their countries.

Going through your life without an obstacle or setback is unrealistic. You are bound to have them no matter what you do. Some obstacles are harder to get over than others and some are minor and easy to deal with. All of them though, are very important to your life and shape you into the person you are now or will become. Everyone deals and manages with them differently, but it’s how it affects you after that is important. Did you come away from it stronger or weaker? Did you learn a lesson or not? Each obstacle you overcome should hopefully make you a better person in some way, shape, or form. I have had many personally, but one that has impacted me the most had just recently taken place in my life.

Throughout a person's life, they are faced with different obstacles, and different challenges of all different types. My life in particular has been full of up and downs used to be related especially towards my social/high school life.Everybody has goals and dreams they set for themselves, but they don't always try to achieve them. People might try to, but they sometimes will have obstacles in their way, stopping them. The only thing to do is overcome the obstacles. I have many obstacles I have to overcome and accomplish in order to achieve this dream. My first obstacle will be to do well in my classes at my highschool and after graduation, apply to college. I know l have to study and work extremely hard to accomplish this goal. Since there

My obstacle that i had to overcome proves many things about my def of an obstacle which is ‘‘An obstacle is something that you have to overcome in your life.’’ Having to deal with an obstacle like mine which is having to move to a different city is really something that is a thing you have to overcom in life. I had to make new friend, meet new people, and pretty much have to start miy life all over again because i wont know anything about the city i would be moving to. Having to start over in your life is a big obstacle to overcome and it made my life very hard until i met one of my best friends that i will talk abou later in my story. My def of an obstacle will soon be proven when you read the rest of my life story.

One obstacle I will face is I constantly stress myself about my grades and getting assignments turned in on time, but the main thing that stresses me is I have a hard time understanding some content in assignments, quizzes, and discussions. The way I will conquer this, is I will talk to my parents or friends about what is stressing me out and see if they can help me with understanding the assignments or discussions, I will also take breaks from what is stressing me to help me calm down. The Second obstacle is I usually procrastinating when it comes to doing something like assignments or studying when I should. I can conquer this by creating a schedule and setting alarms on my phone to remind me to do my assignments, along with reminding myself why I am doing college and telling myself I need to do it to better my future to persuade myself to get up and actually do what I need to do. The third obstacle I have to face is lack of college prep education, this is because I never went to high school so I was unable to take college prep courses to prepare me for college.

Challenges are a way of life, it’s the way you get over it that matters. There are many people who have lost something important in life, from moving to place to place, to losing both legs. But those people do overcome those obstacles, and changes. Others have overridden their obstacles by having a positive attitude about their situation or other. Also, by being accepting of themselves and others around them.