Recall a time in your life in which you were involved in a tough situation, you had to make a decision whether to go back or push on, and you found both options equally difficult. What did you do? Why? z
I used to play soccer, and it was great for a long time. But towards the end I would dread going to practice. My Dad had been my coach when I was little and had always encouraged me to play, so I was afraid I would disappoint him if I quit. I was also worried I would regret it and knew if I quit for a season I couldn’t come back to where I was. But I also hated playing and didn’t like my team. In the end I quit and saw there was no reason to be worried. Even though my Dad was sad I was quitting, he supported me and understood that horseback riding is my sport that i’m passionate about, not soccer. Looking back, I don’t regret quitting and I know it was the right choice.
A time in which I was in a tough situation was actually not that long ago, and it was based around soccer. I really love to play soccer and I was on the team, but I looked at what I was getting out of it. Around 12 hours a week practicing with none of my best friends on the team for maybe ten minutes of game time. Also, soccer at the level I was playing was much more competitive. I was no longer playing with people on rec who were playing to have fun. I was thrown in the with people who had years more experience than I, and those who were harsh towards their teammates who made mistakes. Doing soccer also meant that I couldn't do the musical, and that was something I regretted and also I would mean that I would have to stop going to karate after a while. However, I'd already given a lot up to play, so the choice was difficult. I finally decided to quit soccer and go back to karate, and A Cappella, which I did. I did it so that next year I could do the musical, and so that I could stay on track with karate and my other activities.
The last time I can remember I faced a really hard challenge, I was at a waterski camp. I had a great time waterskiing, but when it came to wake boarding, I had a hard time and inhaled a lot of water. I tried to give up multiple times, but the counselor helped me get through it. I really wanted to succeed, but had a hard time. As I kept trying my hardest, I got a little bit better. I never mastered it, but the motivation and support I received from my friends and the councelors helped me through my struggle and attempt to give up.
Currently there is a roll in my modern dance class' recital dance that I find extremely difficult. I'm in the back row at this part so if I can't get the roll, it will be okay. I never have the motivation to practice and when I do it always hurts my back and/or neck and/or shoulders. However, I know if I do practice and try harder to get this roll I will feel really proud of myself. Also, if I never get it I will be ashamed of myself, embarrassed in class when I can't do it and a lot more nervous when I go on stage, dreading the recital when I usually am looking forward. There is this motivation to not practice the step though. I am in the back and have people who can cover me up and no one could know except for the people in my class. I really want to try harder and I know that it will take a lot of work but I also know that I will be really happy with myself if I do try harder.
A situation I was in where it was equally as difficult to push on as go back was when I was pitching in a baseball game and couldn't find the strike zone. It was very difficult for me to throw strikes, let alone get anyone out, but I couldn't quit because I would be letting my team down. I decided to try to keep throwing. It ended up paying off for me because towards the end of the game I was able to find a rhythm and start pitching better. My team ended up winning the game. I decided to keep pitching because I knew that it would look better to have tried to push on than just quit when I was faced with a challenge. Now in my life, I always try to work through adversity and never turn back.
One time where I had difficulty in a situation was when I had auditioned for two different orchestras and had gotten into both of them. I really wanted to do both of them, the first one because I knew that I was going to be concertmaster, and the second one because it was a really good orchestra. I would have been really difficult to be in both orchestras because of the amount of work needed, and I almost chose to only participate in the orchestra that I knew I was concertmaster of. But I decided that I would play in both orchestras and work as hard as I could in both. I was very happy with my decision (although there as a lot of work) because I ended up being concertmaster of both orchestras! In the end, I learned that even though pushing on can be very rewarding if you work hard.
When I was around 11 years old, my riding trainer retired and moved back to her farm, which was an hour and a half away from my house. I wanted to keep riding with her, so I joined a carpool with other girls who rode with her. Unfortunately, the girls were all kind of bad influences and pushed me into doing things I didn't want to do, and their parents yelled and swore at me. I didn't tell my mom about it because I wanted to keep riding, and I knew if I told her she would pull me out of the carpool and I wouldn't be able to ride anymore - but I couldn't take the carpool. This went on for about a month, before one of my trainer's horses threw me and I hit my head on a fencepost - which was not too bad, it can happen - but the trainer did not tell my mother about it, which she was not pleased about. While she was deciding whether to let me continue riding with the trainer, I told her about the carpool. She immediately discontinued my riding career with the trainer and I was sure I would never ride again. Fortunately, my mother's friend knew another trainer. I've been with that trainer for almost five years now, and she's taught me to be a better rider than the other one ever could.
The last time I can can think of facing a major challenge was when I realized how bad one of my soccer teams that I played on was. I was on the fence about continuing to play for that team. I decided to push through and continue to play for the team. It was midway through the season and some people had already given up but I realized what I actually play for, which is to have fun. Some of my good friends were also on the team and they also decided to stay. I guess the main reason I made the decision I did was because I stopped and realized what I was actually doing this for.
A few months ago me and my friend from ballet entered a dance competition, where we choreographed and performed our own contemporary dance. The odds of us winning this competition were very slim however we both really wanted to win. We ended up winning the competition and were offered a spot in a show. Before the competition my friend and I agreed that even if we did win we wouldn't do the final show because working on the contemporary piece was a lot of stress and work. When we won my friend decided she actually really wanted to do the show, I was not as enthusiastic. The director of the show wanted us to perform two 3-5 minute long classical pieces. This would be much harder to do because most classical ballet variations are at most 2 minutes and they are much harder to perform. We would have to rehearse twice a week for at least 2 hours. I ended up performing in the show and I am so thankful I did. While it was a lot of stress it helped me with my ballet technique and I became closer with my dance friend who I was performing with.
Just this past year, I was involved in a tough situation with my basketball team. We weren't amazing, but we were having some success. However, our coach still punished us with running and hard exercises like burpees almost every practice. All of my teammates and some of the parents didn't think this running over and over was helping us. During one especially hard practice where our coach was punishing us for light, pointless things, I was seriously considering talking back to him and even quitting the team, although that wasn't a large consideration. However, I stuck with it and pushed through and the basketball season ended up being fun and rewarding.
A couple years ago, I was riding horses at two different barns. At one barn I was jumping and progressing quickly but the trainer was very harsh and the atmosphere wasn't positive at all. My dad particularly liked this barn because he felt he was getting his money's worth. The other barn was more detail oriented and I felt like I wasn't really going anywhere, but I really enjoyed the people there and I liked the horses more. The lessons also felt more tailored to me rather than a group. There came a point when I had to choose one barn to go to permanently. I chose the barn where I enjoyed the people and horses more. Since then I have progressed more than I could have hoped and I do feel like I really am getting somewhere now. I still often wonder what it would be like if I were still at the other barn, but I think I made the right choice.
It was actually a couple days ago where I was faced with multiple tough situations. It was during one of my weight and strength training sessions, and the challenging part of it was drinking two types of supplemental drinks, which were whey protein and amino acid. Those are somewhat nasty drinks but not incredibly bad, but I thought drinking it was asking too much for giving a little. I decided to drink it, and halfway through I thought I was gonna throw up, but I decided to follow through. (If I was gonna throw up anything, might as well be all of it.) I didn't even throw up at the end, so it goes to show its better to push on and follow through otherwise there's no point of starting of something when you're not going to finish it.
I was once put in a situation where I came home from school one day feeling really tired and did not want to do anything. So my mom told me to clean the living room, wash the dishes, and clean my room. In my head I did not want to work at all that day. And that day was the day for me to clean up. So in my house if you don't clean up you don't get your allowance money. So I was not thinking about that at all. All I was thinking about was not doing the job. So when I thought about it deeply I did not do the job that day. So come the next morning my mom was giving everyone in the house their allowance money, when she finally came up to me she did not give me mines and force me to clean the whole house up by myself.
There have been many times where I could take extra time off from my free time to study for tests or quizzes, but it's always a hard choice. The most obvious choice is to study, but it's not always that simple. Being in high school doesn't give you much time for breaks during the week, and also playing basketball and practice with many teams is tedious as well, so I don't get much free time. It's always a hard choice studying or not. I know that if I do study, is will be way more prepared for the test/quiz that is coming up, but on the flip side, it's very boring and takes a lot out of my short free time. If I don't study, I won't be as much prepared as I could be for the test or quiz, but I also get a lot more free time to do things that I enjoy. Most of the time I don't study, which is a bad habit that I need to cut, but I mostly pick that choice because it gives me a lot more free time to do things that I like.
Once I was canoeing through the Nantahala River, which I have heard translated as "the sun don't shine down here y'all," meaning it is extremely cold. It also has big rapids. My canoeing partner and I had flipped a couple of times, and we were soaked through. We hit a rock in a pretty calm area, and flipped. We started to pull our boat to shore, but I could see the rapid getting closer, I started to push away, telling my partner to do the same, but I hit my legs on rocks, and between that and the cold, I couldn't move them. When I went into the rapid, all I could see was water, and I couldn't breathe. i ran into a slim fallen tree, and got stuck under it. i couldn't move back up to get out, and I couldn't breathe. For a second I sat there, doing nothing. I was exhausted, and in shock. But I pushed on, through another rapid, and climbed out with a tree.
For me, a tough decision to make was whether or not to continue with the sport of triathlon. I was good at it, and I liked the individual aspects of it, but I absolutely despised racing. I was torn between two choices, like Macbeth, and it took a lot of thinking to make the right decision, along with help from my parents. I laid out the pros and cons and I ultimately decided to stop the sport due to not having fun with it, and wanting to focus on running more. Overall, it was a very good experience that helped teach me how to make an important decision.
In May of 2013 I tested for my black belt. The test lasted five hours and consisted of sit ups, push ups, running, jumping jacks, sparring, and the execution of dozens of strikes, blocks and forms both with and without weapons. The test was extremely difficult and about half way through after a particularly brutal set of sparring in which I had failed to block a kick and ended up on my back five feet from where I was previously (I was wearing some pretty extreme padding, which to be fair was part if the reason I didn't block the kick) I was seriously considering dropping out. I quickly dispelled the notion telling myself I had been working at this since I was five and it was going to take a lot more than one kick to mess that up. The next day I could barely move but it was most definitely worth it and is still one of my proudest achievements.
Once, when I was starting 8th grade, I had to write a speech to deliver in front of the entire class. I wrote a relatively unfiltered and honest speech. At some point after the first draft of the speech, I realized that the speech was about someone who would hear me present it. I had the options of continuing forward with that speech or starting over with another one and trying to get it done in time. I ended up going forward with the speech I had written. This was mostly because I had already started it and had decided to use it earlier and partially because I probably didn't want to try and right a new speech in such a short time.
Two summers ago I had the choice to go to a four Week dyslexia camp where they would do some normal camp things and some dyslexia work . Four weeks was longer than I had ever gone to camp before him the thought that I would be doing writing or school or the whole time was not enjoyable. My mom really wanted me to go because she thought it would help and she thought I would enjoy it, but I was skeptical. Both choices were tough but I ended up going having regrets to the last second. But I really enjoyed it and I went again this last summer because I had such a good time and it helped a lot.
Last year Miranda asked me to start practicing with Groove. I had recently started playing and was very nervous to go and play with girls that had been playing much longer than I had. I knew that because I got this opportunity I had to take it even if it was scary. Sometimes before practice I didn't feel like going to play with the high schoolers, but I knew the best decision to always say yes. I'm really glad I pushed through because the more practice the better I got.
In order to attend Paideia this year, I had to go through the admissions process last spring/summer. A part of that process was taking a test called the SSAT (Secondary School Admissions Test). There was a writing portion in the test, and the prompt was along the lines of: "I heard a noise..." The first story idea that came to mind, and probably most peoples mind, was that I was in some type of dark environment and I heard a strange noise. Considering there was a time limit, I started on that idea immediately. As I was writing, another idea came my head. What if there was a deaf child in a classroom one day, and all of a sudden, he was actually able to hear something. This story was undoubtedly more Interesting and less cliche, but in order to write it, I,d have to go back, erase everything, and start all over. In addition to the time limit, I'd have a pretty big problem. I also didn't want to go on writing a sub-par entry. In the end, I decided to start over and write the better story. Luckily, I got a pretty good score on the writing portions, so alls well that ends well. -Jaliwa Albright
I used to play soccer, and it was great for a long time. But towards the end I would dread going to practice. My Dad had been my coach when I was little and had always encouraged me to play, so I was afraid I would disappoint him if I quit. I was also worried I would regret it and knew if I quit for a season I couldn’t come back to where I was. But I also hated playing and didn’t like my team. In the end I quit and saw there was no reason to be worried. Even though my Dad was sad I was quitting, he supported me and understood that horseback riding is my sport that i’m passionate about, not soccer. Looking back, I don’t regret quitting and I know it was the right choice.
ReplyDeleteA time in which I was in a tough situation was actually not that long ago, and it was based around soccer. I really love to play soccer and I was on the team, but I looked at what I was getting out of it. Around 12 hours a week practicing with none of my best friends on the team for maybe ten minutes of game time. Also, soccer at the level I was playing was much more competitive. I was no longer playing with people on rec who were playing to have fun. I was thrown in the with people who had years more experience than I, and those who were harsh towards their teammates who made mistakes. Doing soccer also meant that I couldn't do the musical, and that was something I regretted and also I would mean that I would have to stop going to karate after a while. However, I'd already given a lot up to play, so the choice was difficult. I finally decided to quit soccer and go back to karate, and A Cappella, which I did. I did it so that next year I could do the musical, and so that I could stay on track with karate and my other activities.
ReplyDeleteThe last time I can remember I faced a really hard challenge, I was at a waterski camp. I had a great time waterskiing, but when it came to wake boarding, I had a hard time and inhaled a lot of water. I tried to give up multiple times, but the counselor helped me get through it. I really wanted to succeed, but had a hard time. As I kept trying my hardest, I got a little bit better. I never mastered it, but the motivation and support I received from my friends and the councelors helped me through my struggle and attempt to give up.
ReplyDeleteCurrently there is a roll in my modern dance class' recital dance that I find extremely difficult. I'm in the back row at this part so if I can't get the roll, it will be okay. I never have the motivation to practice and when I do it always hurts my back and/or neck and/or shoulders. However, I know if I do practice and try harder to get this roll I will feel really proud of myself. Also, if I never get it I will be ashamed of myself, embarrassed in class when I can't do it and a lot more nervous when I go on stage, dreading the recital when I usually am looking forward. There is this motivation to not practice the step though. I am in the back and have people who can cover me up and no one could know except for the people in my class. I really want to try harder and I know that it will take a lot of work but I also know that I will be really happy with myself if I do try harder.
ReplyDeleteA situation I was in where it was equally as difficult to push on as go back was when I was pitching in a baseball game and couldn't find the strike zone. It was very difficult for me to throw strikes, let alone get anyone out, but I couldn't quit because I would be letting my team down. I decided to try to keep throwing. It ended up paying off for me because towards the end of the game I was able to find a rhythm and start pitching better. My team ended up winning the game. I decided to keep pitching because I knew that it would look better to have tried to push on than just quit when I was faced with a challenge. Now in my life, I always try to work through adversity and never turn back.
ReplyDeleteOne time where I had difficulty in a situation was when I had auditioned for two different orchestras and had gotten into both of them. I really wanted to do both of them, the first one because I knew that I was going to be concertmaster, and the second one because it was a really good orchestra. I would have been really difficult to be in both orchestras because of the amount of work needed, and I almost chose to only participate in the orchestra that I knew I was concertmaster of. But I decided that I would play in both orchestras and work as hard as I could in both. I was very happy with my decision (although there as a lot of work) because I ended up being concertmaster of both orchestras! In the end, I learned that even though pushing on can be very rewarding if you work hard.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was around 11 years old, my riding trainer retired and moved back to her farm, which was an hour and a half away from my house. I wanted to keep riding with her, so I joined a carpool with other girls who rode with her. Unfortunately, the girls were all kind of bad influences and pushed me into doing things I didn't want to do, and their parents yelled and swore at me. I didn't tell my mom about it because I wanted to keep riding, and I knew if I told her she would pull me out of the carpool and I wouldn't be able to ride anymore - but I couldn't take the carpool. This went on for about a month, before one of my trainer's horses threw me and I hit my head on a fencepost - which was not too bad, it can happen - but the trainer did not tell my mother about it, which she was not pleased about. While she was deciding whether to let me continue riding with the trainer, I told her about the carpool. She immediately discontinued my riding career with the trainer and I was sure I would never ride again. Fortunately, my mother's friend knew another trainer. I've been with that trainer for almost five years now, and she's taught me to be a better rider than the other one ever could.
ReplyDeleteThe last time I can can think of facing a major challenge was when I realized how bad one of my soccer teams that I played on was. I was on the fence about continuing to play for that team. I decided to push through and continue to play for the team. It was midway through the season and some people had already given up but I realized what I actually play for, which is to have fun. Some of my good friends were also on the team and they also decided to stay. I guess the main reason I made the decision I did was because I stopped and realized what I was actually doing this for.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteA few months ago me and my friend from ballet entered a dance competition, where we choreographed and performed our own contemporary dance. The odds of us winning this competition were very slim however we both really wanted to win. We ended up winning the competition and were offered a spot in a show. Before the competition my friend and I agreed that even if we did win we wouldn't do the final show because working on the contemporary piece was a lot of stress and work. When we won my friend decided she actually really wanted to do the show, I was not as enthusiastic. The director of the show wanted us to perform two 3-5 minute long classical pieces. This would be much harder to do because most classical ballet variations are at most 2 minutes and they are much harder to perform. We would have to rehearse twice a week for at least 2 hours. I ended up performing in the show and I am so thankful I did. While it was a lot of stress it helped me with my ballet technique and I became closer with my dance friend who I was performing with.
Just this past year, I was involved in a tough situation with my basketball team. We weren't amazing, but we were having some success. However, our coach still punished us with running and hard exercises like burpees almost every practice. All of my teammates and some of the parents didn't think this running over and over was helping us. During one especially hard practice where our coach was punishing us for light, pointless things, I was seriously considering talking back to him and even quitting the team, although that wasn't a large consideration. However, I stuck with it and pushed through and the basketball season ended up being fun and rewarding.
ReplyDeleteA couple years ago, I was riding horses at two different barns. At one barn I was jumping and progressing quickly but the trainer was very harsh and the atmosphere wasn't positive at all. My dad particularly liked this barn because he felt he was getting his money's worth. The other barn was more detail oriented and I felt like I wasn't really going anywhere, but I really enjoyed the people there and I liked the horses more. The lessons also felt more tailored to me rather than a group. There came a point when I had to choose one barn to go to permanently. I chose the barn where I enjoyed the people and horses more. Since then I have progressed more than I could have hoped and I do feel like I really am getting somewhere now. I still often wonder what it would be like if I were still at the other barn, but I think I made the right choice.
ReplyDeleteIt was actually a couple days ago where I was faced with multiple tough situations. It was during one of my weight and strength training sessions, and the challenging part of it was drinking two types of supplemental drinks, which were whey protein and amino acid. Those are somewhat nasty drinks but not incredibly bad, but I thought drinking it was asking too much for giving a little. I decided to drink it, and halfway through I thought I was gonna throw up, but I decided to follow through. (If I was gonna throw up anything, might as well be all of it.) I didn't even throw up at the end, so it goes to show its better to push on and follow through otherwise there's no point of starting of something when you're not going to finish it.
ReplyDeleteI was once put in a situation where I came home from school one day feeling really tired and did not want to do anything. So my mom told me to clean the living room, wash the dishes, and clean my room. In my head I did not want to work at all that day. And that day was the day for me to clean up. So in my house if you don't clean up you don't get your allowance money. So I was not thinking about that at all. All I was thinking about was not doing the job. So when I thought about it deeply I did not do the job that day. So come the next morning my mom was giving everyone in the house their allowance money, when she finally came up to me she did not give me mines and force me to clean the whole house up by myself.
ReplyDeleteThere have been many times where I could take extra time off from my free time to study for tests or quizzes, but it's always a hard choice. The most obvious choice is to study, but it's not always that simple. Being in high school doesn't give you much time for breaks during the week, and also playing basketball and practice with many teams is tedious as well, so I don't get much free time. It's always a hard choice studying or not. I know that if I do study, is will be way more prepared for the test/quiz that is coming up, but on the flip side, it's very boring and takes a lot out of my short free time. If I don't study, I won't be as much prepared as I could be for the test or quiz, but I also get a lot more free time to do things that I enjoy. Most of the time I don't study, which is a bad habit that I need to cut, but I mostly pick that choice because it gives me a lot more free time to do things that I like.
ReplyDeleteOnce I was canoeing through the Nantahala River, which I have heard translated as "the sun don't shine down here y'all," meaning it is extremely cold. It also has big rapids. My canoeing partner and I had flipped a couple of times, and we were soaked through. We hit a rock in a pretty calm area, and flipped. We started to pull our boat to shore, but I could see the rapid getting closer, I started to push away, telling my partner to do the same, but I hit my legs on rocks, and between that and the cold, I couldn't move them. When I went into the rapid, all I could see was water, and I couldn't breathe. i ran into a slim fallen tree, and got stuck under it. i couldn't move back up to get out, and I couldn't breathe. For a second I sat there, doing nothing. I was exhausted, and in shock. But I pushed on, through another rapid, and climbed out with a tree.
ReplyDeleteFor me, a tough decision to make was whether or not to continue with the sport of triathlon. I was good at it, and I liked the individual aspects of it, but I absolutely despised racing. I was torn between two choices, like Macbeth, and it took a lot of thinking to make the right decision, along with help from my parents. I laid out the pros and cons and I ultimately decided to stop the sport due to not having fun with it, and wanting to focus on running more. Overall, it was a very good experience that helped teach me how to make an important decision.
ReplyDeleteIn May of 2013 I tested for my black belt. The test lasted five hours and consisted of sit ups, push ups, running, jumping jacks, sparring, and the execution of dozens of strikes, blocks and forms both with and without weapons. The test was extremely difficult and about half way through after a particularly brutal set of sparring in which I had failed to block a kick and ended up on my back five feet from where I was previously (I was wearing some pretty extreme padding, which to be fair was part if the reason I didn't block the kick) I was seriously considering dropping out. I quickly dispelled the notion telling myself I had been working at this since I was five and it was going to take a lot more than one kick to mess that up. The next day I could barely move but it was most definitely worth it and is still one of my proudest achievements.
ReplyDeleteOnce, when I was starting 8th grade, I had to write a speech to deliver in front of the entire class. I wrote a relatively unfiltered and honest speech. At some point after the first draft of the speech, I realized that the speech was about someone who would hear me present it. I had the options of continuing forward with that speech or starting over with another one and trying to get it done in time. I ended up going forward with the speech I had written. This was mostly because I had already started it and had decided to use it earlier and partially because I probably didn't want to try and right a new speech in such a short time.
ReplyDeleteTwo summers ago I had the choice to go to a four Week dyslexia camp where they would do some normal camp things and some dyslexia work . Four weeks was longer than I had ever gone to camp before him the thought that I would be doing writing or school or the whole time was not enjoyable. My mom really wanted me to go because she thought it would help and she thought I would enjoy it, but I was skeptical. Both choices were tough but I ended up going having regrets to the last second. But I really enjoyed it and I went again this last summer because I had such a good time and it helped a lot.
ReplyDeleteLast year Miranda asked me to start practicing with Groove. I had recently started playing and was very nervous to go and play with girls that had been playing much longer than I had. I knew that because I got this opportunity I had to take it even if it was scary. Sometimes before practice I didn't feel like going to play with the high schoolers, but I knew the best decision to always say yes. I'm really glad I pushed through because the more practice the better I got.
ReplyDeleteIn order to attend Paideia this year, I had to go through the admissions process last spring/summer. A part of that process was taking a test called the SSAT (Secondary School Admissions Test). There was a writing portion in the test, and the prompt was along the lines of: "I heard a noise..." The first story idea that came to mind, and probably most peoples mind, was that I was in some type of dark environment and I heard a strange noise. Considering there was a time limit, I started on that idea immediately. As I was writing, another idea came my head. What if there was a deaf child in a classroom one day, and all of a sudden, he was actually able to hear something. This story was undoubtedly more Interesting and less cliche, but in order to write it, I,d have to go back, erase everything, and start all over. In addition to the time limit, I'd have a pretty big problem. I also didn't want to go on writing a sub-par entry. In the end, I decided to start over and write the better story. Luckily, I got a pretty good score on the writing portions, so alls well that ends well.
ReplyDelete-Jaliwa Albright