Premium Essay

Overcoming Obstacles

Submitted By
Words 490
Pages 2
In my brief eighteen-years of life, I have encountered many obstacles and faced great amounts of adversity in my athletic endeavors. From pulled quad muscles to kicking in a game while battling salmonella, I have always played to my best abilities by learning to manage and overcome barriers that stand before me. While these physical hindrances have been difficult, none are as devastating as failure. Most consider failure to mean that one didn’t reach their end goal due to poor performance or circumstances. This is not failure but instead part of the process of being successful. The real failure, however, is when someone gives up on their goal and quits trying to reach it.
As an athlete, I have heard a lot of pep talks about success and failure.

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Overcoming Obstacles

...In today’s society one problem that many have is the ability to overcome obstacles. This is not something that has just been introduced in the modern day. It has been prevalent in the lives of many for hundreds of years. It is only a part of life. As time evolves the ability to triumph over good or evil is the difference between those that sit at the bottom, and those that rise to the top. As in this medieval period, overcoming certain obstacles has been part of the human life cycle and is still present in the modern day. The Medieval period in which Hamlet took place demonstrates one character trying to overcome not only one obstacle, but many. Major conflict arises even at the beginning of the play. Although Hamlet has no control of what goes on between Gertrude and Claudius, in his mind a solution must ascend. After the cruel overtaking of power by Claudius, Prince Hamlet must find a way in order to avenge his father’s death. The truth has been exposed by a ghost resembling King Hamlet. Now it is time for him to strategize in order to find which solution is the best. Killing him would do the trick, but is that the answer? Some options arise in the famous “To be or not to be” soliloquy. “Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them. (Shakespeare, Hamlet)” Prince Hamlet really struggles in this situation on his next move. As much as he wants to avenge his father’s...

Words: 862 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Overcoming Obstacles

...Obstacles are presented to every person, it is a normal situation; however, not everyone confronts them the same way, some tackle them, while others remain indifferent, or even give up because of them. I, personally have experienced many obstacles, failures, and setbacks in my lifetime; examples of these complications include my troubles in expressing myself to others, becoming a generally kind-hearted person, to simply being responsible. Although it can be argued that other obstacles in my life have made more of an impact, only one had become so difficult to overcome that it would surprisingly result in inspiring my passion—mathematics. The very dawn of my affliction with mathematical concepts had begun as far back as elementary school, which had been when I had struggled to even appreciate the beauty of numbers. While I had indeed enjoyed doing simple math problems such as addition or multiplication, I had not understood what had been behind the simplicities, which included subjects I had used to fear—algebra for example. For many years after elementary, I had...

Words: 649 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Overcoming Obstacles

...An obstacle is a problem you have to face or solve in order to continue on with whatever you were doing. According to Google Dictionary an obstacle is a thing that blocks one's way or prevents or hinders progress. The hurdle that I faced fits in with my definition of an obstacle because I needed to get over the situation in order to be happy and continue on with my life. I could not always be upset or angry because we moved. Life goes on and you have to be able to accept that and that is what I did and learned from that obstacle. If I had not moved on from the problem I would not be able to enjoy life and I would always be a negative person. I might of not meet the people I met and I am very grateful for the friends I made when I moved. I remember when I was in fourth grade my family decided we were gonna move from the bay area to Modesto. I felt really upset and did not want to move because it meant I would have to leave all my friends, that I had been friends with since kindergarten or 1st grade. It would also mean that I would have to make new friends and get used to a new school. This terrified me and I really was not ready for the change. I tried to keep a positive mind and not as...

Words: 481 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Overcoming Obstacles

...This essay will be about overcoming obstacles in your life. Life brings a lot of obstacles that gives adults trouble. I will talk about one of the obstacles that adults struggle with, that is emotional stress. Emotional stress is a very difficult obstacle to get over. You get to doubting yourself to the point where your mind don’t think straight so, you will not be able to do your work correctly. To get your mind on track you will have to start thinking positive thoughts and telling yourself that you can do what you set your mind to do. If you keep having negative thoughts you will end up failing everything you do. If you keep positive thoughts you will have a better outcome on your tasks. So, whatever you do in your life just remember to...

Words: 351 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Overcoming an Obstacle

...Overcoming Obstacle One of the most challenging obstacles I have had to overcome was learning a second language. To be successful I established two specific few goals to help guide me in the right direction. First, and I feel the most important goal, was to speak the language at all times. The second goal I made was to read the language whenever possible. Speaking the language was the most important goal to me because the act of speaking words helped ingrain those words and their definitions into memory. I always carried a dictionary/translator with me so I could look up words I did not know. In the beginning, not having a proper core knowledge of the language made this goal extremely difficult. As time progressed, however, I realized that it was becoming easier and easier to not only speak, but I required less time to think of what I was trying to say. Reading the language was another important goal to help me learn a second language. Reading the language was very helpful for increasing my vocabulary. I would always read out loud while working on this goal, which in turn also helped me achieve the first goal, as well. As I did with speaking the language, I kept a dictionary close by as to look up the words I did not know. Again as time went on, I noticed that the frequency of having to look up words began to decrease. Having to learn a second language is a difficult task to accomplish. The setting of goals was crucial to the success of my accomplishment...

Words: 291 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Overcoming Obstacles

...Turning an obstacle or disadvantage into a positive outcome will all depend on what the person decides to do with those obstacles, and how the person decides to react towards certain disadvantages. A person with a positive mindset may have the ability to gain knowledge and humility from those obstacles and disadvantages. When I was a child, I had always been dependant on my parents. I did not acknowledge that one day they were not going to able to provide for me, and I would have to become independent. For example, when my parents passed away, I no longer had anyone to rely on; therefore, I had to learn how to become an independent person. Consequently, I was so adapted to having my parents fighting my battles for me all the time; I soon realized I...

Words: 527 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Overcoming Obstacles

...In my life, there have been many situations where I had to overcome obstacles and determine what is the right thing to do. Recently there was a dilemma where I had to assess the situation and figure out what I wanted to do to overcome the obstacle standing in front of me. It is especially hard to do the right thing when you're torn between what write and wrong. Deciding what I needed to do wasn't easy but eventually, I chose the right path to take and everything worked out. I have played Lacrosse at Lakeland High school for three years now. This year the schools zoning changed. In the past, I was zoned for Lakeland, because Mckeel doesn't have a lacrosse team I was able to play for the school I was zoned for. However, now I am zoned for Kathleen....

Words: 488 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Overcoming Obstacles

...Everyone is capable of doing great things. The biggest obstacle preventing them from doing so is often themselves. I know I have the potential and skills to go above and beyond, and meet everyone’s expectations. However, even with all this possibility, I still am restricted, grounded by my own laziness and lack of motivation. Doomed with the same fate as Tantalus, desperately grasping at my hopes and dreams, but it always being just out of my reach. So for me, my problem, like many others, is that I find that I never moving outside my comforting box of security, or pushing myself to do more than just the minimum effort of activities. My goal then, is to break this looming curse, and become a more confident and outgoing person. The significance...

Words: 605 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Overcoming Obstacles

...Nothing Can Stand In Their Way Imagine baseball without Babe Ruth, comedy without Jim Carrey, and women’s right to vote without Susan B. Anthony. They would not be the same. Everyone at one point in time has an obstacle that stands in his or her way. Those obstacles can be simple like not wanting to get out of bed in the morning because one is extremely tired. It may be a huge obstacle like one losing their job and still having to put food on the table. According to an unknown source, “You can either allow the obstacles in your life to be the excuse for your failure or make them the reason behind your success.” Though obstacles may stand in someone’s way of achieving their dreams, if one possesses determination, courage and confidence, nothing can stand in their way. Many people use determination to help them achieve their dreams. Jim Carrey is one example. Jim was an odd child, while he was sitting in his high chair, he would make faces at his parents or whoever was feeding him instead of eating (“Jim,” par 3). As a child he was very shy at school. When his family moved to Toronto he was determined to use his talents of clowning around to help him make some friends (“Jim,” par 4). “Jim told Shane Peacock in Saturday Night that “for some reason I did something where I realized I could get a reaction. That was when I broke out of my shell at school, because I really did not have any friends or anything like that and I just kind of was going along, and then finally I did this...

Words: 1857 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Overcoming Obstacles

...To every problem there is, there has to be some type of solution. For all of the obstacles that I had faced over the years I have always found a way to fix them. Most of the obstacle I found my own solution. But the main key was my family. They will alway be there no matter the what. When Andrea was killed at first I didn’t believe it I thought that my brother was kidding. All he said was that she was in a accident. I never thought of the worst for her until my phone started to blow up with messages and posts. I didn't know what to do I just sat in my living room crying. When I went to school the next day I would have had first period with her and I remember looking at the door the whole time waiting for her to walk in. The solution for this...

Words: 342 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Overcoming Obstacles

...How a snake lost its legs Once upon a time about 300 years ago there lived a snake who was very greedy and selfish, and he did not have very many friends. But he did have one friend and that was a cockroach. Now I know what you are thinking eww cockroaches are gross. But this cockroach was very nice and always put friends first. One day when snake was admiring his legs cockroach came in his den and said.”Hey Snake do you want to play some hid and go seek?” So Snake replied”Sure why not.” So they went into the field and started playing. But there is probably something you should know about animal hide and go seek to win they keep score I know it's kinda weird but I was just giving you a heads up but back to the story. “I'm winning three...

Words: 390 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Overcoming Obstacles

...“Your tears will dry, your heart will mend, your scars will heal, and you will dance again (Matt Hooper, ‘Dance Again’).” All of us reach a time in life when we feel like everything is going wrong, nothing good seems to be coming our way, and we just cannot see any silver lining. It is in these moments that we search for something – anything – to bring us comfort. It can come from anywhere. Maybe a friend gives you an encouraging word, or you read something from a good book; whatever it may be, you cling to it like a lifeline because maybe, just maybe, it can pull you out of what you are going through. When I hit rock bottom, it was song lyrics that I held on to for dear life. “Your tears will dry, your heart will mend, your scars will heal,...

Words: 426 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Overcoming An Obstacle

...I believe that an obstacle or disadvantage can be turned into something good. Even at your worse you’re able to find the good in them, as difficult as it sounds its always possible. Even on the news someone is always struggling somewhere in the world. My first day of freshmen year till now I always thought that high school was going to be simple just like the movies where they would run into minor problems. At the start of senior year I thought I had everything I could have wanted. I kept everyone I knew since freshmen year as close to me as possible. Then came one day where people started to fade away from me. I thought to myself that maybe everyone was just busy, including me. I had volleyball and music rehearsal to worry about so I didn’t...

Words: 405 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Overcoming Obstacles

...This quote expresses how if we are approached by an obstacle, no matter what, you should always do what is right and will benefit the community. Often times you have two options when escaping a difficult situation: the easy way, or the hard way. Most times we are tempted, and sometimes encouraged, to partake in the easy way out. The easy way makes us feel better, faster. However we rarely learn from our mistakes when we take the easy way out; instead, we continue to make mistakes that lead us into the same, harmful situation. When we choose to take the difficult route, or in this case the “harder right”, we not only learn from our mistakes but develop valuable skills necessary to prevent us from finding ourselves in that situation again. This...

Words: 335 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Overcoming Obstacles

...“Life's challenges are not supposed to paralyze you; they're supposed to help you discover who you are.” (Bernice Johnson Reagon). My father happened to be just nine when his father departed and after my grandfather sudden passing, my father worked restlessly to obtain an education. He believes that we are born to set examples for others through our lifestyles and more importantly through our education. From this, I was raised believing that life can bring challenges in several ways. However, they are not there to overwhelm me, nevertheless to bring the best out of myself. Although, few incidents in life force us to imagine that life is merely a journey of adversity and misfortune. Tuesday, December 16, 2014, was the day my world fell apart...

Words: 294 - Pages: 2