I do what I do because I will never be satisfied with being second best. This isn’t meant to be a description to gain sympathy, but instead to show the reason that I am who I am today. I am one of the most competitive people you will ever meet. If I am not the best at what I do, I will find a way to be. If my best is not good enough, I will find a way to make myself even better because you never know when everything you love can suddenly be stripped away.
Beginning at a very young age, I was forced to overcome much adversity. Not only am I the youngest in my family, but also the only girl. Being weak has really just never been an option. I have been pushed around and have had no choice but to pick myself back up. I not only needed to be considered the best at everything I tried, but especially better than all of the boys.
Once these thoughts were engrained in my head, everything in my life changed. It was discovered that I was born with a severe kidney disease, and I would never ever be able to lead the life I had previously known and loved. I was violently ill for sixth months while the doctors tried to figure out what had gone wrong, and why I had lost thirty percent of my body weight. Once I underwent my surgery and was informed that I would be functioning on one kidney for the remainder of my life, I was forced to cope with the fact that I would no longer be able to play the one sport I adored. Soccer.
As soon as this information was presented to me, I decided to find a new passion. Volleyball. At first, it was heartbreaking to leave the sport I played since I was three, but it was the only option that I had. Now, eight years later, I am at UCLA, my dream school, playing the sport that defines the person I am today. I no longer have the capacity to allow anyone to push me around or tell me that I can’t, because I know this is what I am supposed to be doing, and I will not let anyone take it away from me. No one can beat me but myself.
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