Personal Narrative: My Strength Quest

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.

I think that I have grown as a student and a person as a whole. Emotionally I have matured so that I don't take everything so serious, I don't get upset over things I don't need too. I have become more responsible for example I take care of my items and do my homework. I have more knowledge now than ever before, this knowledge has helped shaped me to who I am. Over all I have grown greatly throughout the years.

Imagine being at the peak of your high school career, personally, academically, and athletically. For me, that was my sophomore year. I was selected to be on the homecoming court, I won a free class ring, and a free corsage and boutonniere for prom. I was on my way to a 4.0 grade point average. I was pulled up to Varsity basketball, I became the 100 meter hurdle regional champion, and I qualified for two events at the Division 4 State meet for track and field. In one split second, a clip of a hurdle, that was over. My first race of the day was the preliminary 100 meter hurdles. Once the race started, I was calm, focused, and determined. I was starting to make my way up to the front of the pack when I clipped my trail leg on the eighth hurdle.

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.

In the next few pages I will discuss my willpower challenge. I read The Willpower Instinct by Kelly McGonigal (2012) that guided my writing. I shall begin with my will, my wont, and my want power. According to chapter 1, page 14, we have a prefrontal cortex that has three key regions that divide up the jobs of “I will”, “I won’t”, and “I want”. The “I will” area I found out helped me begin and stick with a difficult, boring, or stressful task. The “I won’t” area is noted help me hold back from my impulses and cravings. The “I want” region kept me on track of reaching my goals and desires. For my willpower challenge “I want” to be healthier, “I will” try to exercise more, and “I won’t” be eating to many sweet foods, and did try to stay away from food with saturated fats. I knew that would be a difficult challenge. I know I had many problems to address.

Is there anything you wish you would’ve been stronger to do? Since the 6th grade something not only me but the people that have been around me for awhile knows that I’m outgoing but there’s this persona that is put on. The need to let people know that I can speak for myself is something that is consistently being pounded into my head. If someone says anything to me weather its respectful or not I have to say something back or it starts the disappointment and consent thoughts of criticism.

I admitted, there are some difficult situations affect humans and their endurance such as working under so much pressure. For example, when you forced to face with several difficulties on the same time and you feel that your life on the outskirts of the end, almost you gone. Summon all your strength to resist moments in recent collapse. You still have a hope, you still have something left to give its not over this is me. One of my advantages, work hard with patience. Thus built my character. What makes me a special person;I married a positive man who helping me and supporting me to complete my higher education.I have children, I mean for them all life.I got my bachelor's degree at the same time that I was working and I was taking care of

It’s pitch black, no one can see anything, when all of a sudden one bright spot light glistens brighter than the sun. There I am standing right under it, it’s my time to shine, and show my team that I am willing to put forth my best effort and bring us all to victory. I am competing in one of the most intense sports there is to play, dance. As a matter of fact, dance is the one thing that takes me out of my real life and puts me into a fantasy.

Every single second of every single day, people all over the world content themselves with mediocrity. In the words of the legendary Steve Prefontaine, “To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.” That is why, every second of my life I put forth an unmatched effort and dogged work ethic in everything I endeavor to do. However, I have found that throughout my life my determination goes completely unnoticed. Regardless of the fact that my drive regularly goes unnoticed, it is a quality that is integral to my character; furthermore, determination has been, and continues to be a defining characteristic in my life.

With lots of persistence and motivation I plan on changing my weakness of ambition into a strength. I have grown monumentally this year with my ambition goal I am focused on school and actually enjoy to learn. But I am still not at the level of ambition I would like to be at I still have some off days where all of my work is thought of as I do not have to do this so it will be pushed to the side and forgotten about. Also there is more effort that is needed toward my work some paper I will only scratch the surface when there is a deeper meaning because of the fact that I lack the ambition to dig deep into these assignments

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.

Giving up or giving in are two ideas that are difficult for me to comprehend. Growing up, I didn't have a father and my mother had to work all day to provide for me. While my mom tried with all her might to be there for me, it was simply impossible for her to be everywhere at the same time. By having to raise and teach myself, at times, I slowly learned to become independent. I also saw how hard my mom worked which motivated, and still motivates me, to become a better person each day.

With not be able to get my gym membership I had to come up with another plan to lose weight, I started running around my block and using my brother's weight he had in his room. I did this for a couple of weeks but I felt like I hit a plateau and my weight stayed the same, this was not ok with my I needed to do more. Not being happy with my current weight I started running more, I would run in the middle of the night, after school, before school, any free time I had I was running. Even with this entire running I would still see the same number on the scale 121, I was at a standstill, I couldn't understand what more I could do. All my options were exhausted so I turned to my friend Tiffany for help on what more I could do to lose weight. What

At some point in our lives we are confronted with a problem. This problem inevitably shapes who we become. My greatest obstacle came early in life; when I was in 8th grade, I was arrested for possession of marijuana.

The time I challenged a belief or idea was when my brother Ronnie passed away. I remember this day like it was yesterday, being awakened to crying, mumbled words, and screaming. This day was just so surreal and just one huge dream. It was about three o’clock in the morning when my mom woke me up and told me the horrendous news. I could not even move, cry, or even speak at that moment. I just sat up on my bed in shock. That is when it finally hit me when I walked over to my brother’s room just to see that this news was really true. When everything was coming to reality for me I got myself together and I just went outside and sat in front of the garage and just cried my heart out. I was just asking God why him? Why my brother, he