Personal Narrative: How Adversity Changed My Life

The acknowledgment of adversity paired with the constant effort to overcome allows us strive in life. A strong example of the fearless plight against

Hardship. Distressing. Trouble. All those are words that describe Adversity. Overcoming adversity is essential for us to live.

Kevin Conroy once said “Everyone is handed adversity in life. No one’s journey is easy. It’s how they handle it that makes people unique.” What Kevin means by this quote is that people will go through bad times, but it is how one handles the bad times. Adversity is defined as a condition marked by misfortune, calamity, and distress.

Adversity. Struggles and misfortunes. Adversity teaches a person many lessons. It helps a person to grow and become a stronger individual. One learns to overcome obstacles and be resilient through the obstacles they come to find.

The transition from eighth grade to ninth grade is one of the most difficult but unforgettable things a student must do in his adolescence. For me, it was filled with new opportunities of taking Ap classes and joining clubs. One of these cubs was Youth and Government (Y&G). For as long as I can remember my brother, Riad, has boasted about how amazing Y&G is and how it has changed his life. My brother is three years older then me, so as a freshman he was a senior in Y&G.

Helen Keller once said "...although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it." This quotation means that in life, you come to find yourself in many struggles, but there is always a sense of accomplishment over such problems. The reason I agree with this quote is because such triumph can only be accomplished after the fact of the occurrence of a struggle. The realistic fiction book, Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, is a perfect example of my interpretation of the quote. The author uses conflict, figurative language and characterization to show that this quote is true.

Adversity is, however, beautiful. Not satisfactory, not enjoyable, but beautiful. In the face of adversity, many people tend to develop their character by developing new skills, making themselves stronger, and by becoming more understanding and compassionate. They take something terrible and use it to make them better. Adversity develops character by helping develop skills that may not have been necessary if they had not gone through hardships.

Adversity has affected my life in many different ways, but one specifically was when I was a sophomore. I was in an honors class and my teacher was a big stickler for having your assignments in on time. It was a three-part group project. I remember I had needed to finish one small part of the assignment and then had to go to work, but for some reason as soon as I got home, it had spaced my mind and I didn’t turn any of the assignment in. I then was working the next day and saw some of the classmates I had worked with on the project and they asked if I had turned the assignment in.

Throughout my short, young live I haven’t had much experience with life-changing obstacles or events. In addition, overcoming an obstacle depends on what qualifies as an obstacle in your eyes. Since, we all have different opinions about what an obstacle is, I believe it all comes down to how personal the challenge is to you and how serious you are to overcome it. Therefore, my personal demon I had to defeat was as simple as stop drinking coffee.

It was a typical chilly October Friday night on the football field under the lights with fans screaming, the hype of the game in full effect, when my life was altered and I was forced to make a decision. I was running down the field in hopes to catch the football thrown in my direction when I was hit. Everything seemed fine, until I tried to stand up. I felt excruciating pain come from my right leg, I looked down only to see the bone bulging from my right shin. I’ve always been told that no mater what you are dong adversity is going to come but it all breaks down to how you are going to respond.

After the obstacles he has overcame Walt Disney once said “All the adversity I’ve had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me… You may not realize when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.” Everyone has a time in there life where they need to get passed something that is in there way. When this time or times come everyone would find a way to get through it, whether it is asking for help or doing it on their own. When someone says the word adversity one would say you have to be hard working, determined, and strong would pop into their mind.

In life, adversity can be a positive or negative, but by definition, adversity means hardship or struggle. Everyone has faced adversity at one point or another, good or bad. Through American history and still today, everyone has faced adversity. Certain groups of people have faced more adversity than others because they have been oppressed due to race and religion, among other things. Adversity breaks one down until they can be broken no more, and although adversity has a negative connotation, overcoming adversity can make one stronger, turning it into a positive.

In my brief life, I have overcome a lot of adversity. My mom fled Mexico with her three young children to escape domestic violence. When we came to this country we had only a few personal belongings and the promise of a better future. We came to this country and lived in a small trailer with no toilet other than a bucket, and no shower except for the one that was lent to us from the kindness of a stranger, our new neighbor. As a single parent, my mother had to work day and night to support us.

Accepting adversity, helps you overcome it. “One who has never tasted what is bitter does not know what is sweet”. We cannot appreciate joy in our lives without a measure of sadness. Adversity puts people in undesirable

A Scarred Past Smoke filled the air, the smell filling me with anxiety. I heard pounding. The door opened and- "Flight 192, New York to London, is preparing to land. " I took in the unfamiliar setting as I began to become more conscious from my nap. I sat up, moving my long, brown hair out of my face.