Personal Narrative: My Pursuit Of Success

When I think of successful people, my name had always failed to cross my mind. What had I done, or what could I ever do, to make myself worthy of holding such an honorable character trait? As it turns out, I have managed to surprise myself. It’s difficult to discuss these changes without sounding pompous or self-righteous, but I’ve come to find a great joy in reflecting on where I came from and where I stand today. Truly, I had never expected to attend college let alone fall in love with a university that gave me more than just an education. My mother had grown very ill and I was too scared to think about moving away from her. My previous five years were spent taking care of her and being there whenever she needed me. I had felt like it was …show more content…
However, I have one day that I distinctly remember and know it will always give me the momentary mirage of feeling like a success. A few weeks into my sophomore year, I had taken my first midterm in one of the required classes for my major. Nevertheless, I was impatiently awaiting my grade immediately after turning in my booklet. When the notification popped up on my phone that my grade had been posted, I took a moment to allow myself to feel terrified. This was the moment that my anxiety formed the idea that this grade would reflect my ability to either complete the expectations for this program, or affirm the doubts I originally had. Instantly I began to rethink what I was getting into. My eyes looked over the screen, read the percentage, and I was dumbfounded. I couldn’t believe it. I glanced over to look at the comments where my professor wrote that she could not recall the last time a student earned a perfect score on this midterm. This was real. My success was real. I was over the moon with happiness paired with a big sigh of relief; I confidently felt that I could …show more content…
An alumni member of another sorority on campus appeared in an edition of Women’s Health. Bravely, she bared it all and told her story of how she lost an extreme amount of weight while going through a rough patch of family issues, relationship struggles, in addition to her own hatred towards her appearance. She achieved the dream most people find themselves having, including me. Boxing had given her a second chance for happiness which consequently made me feel that I could do it too. I’ve struggled with body image issues ever since I was in elementary school, if not from a younger age. I was never able to lose weight and keep it off. So, I decided to make a change and go for a membership with the Title Boxing Club in Ann Arbor. After my first week of classes, I had truly fallen in love with the sport. I was working one-on-one with trainers and before I knew it, 6 months had gone by. In these months there were countless drops of sweat, the ending of multiple toxic relationships, both paired with the loss of nearly 35 pounds. I finally felt like the “Bre” I had always wanted to be. I could look in the mirror without feeling like I was staring at a person that I hated to call myself. Not just physically either, but mentally too. The day I noticed the changes made to my mind and body was the day my anxiety took a permanent step backwards. I know that appearance is not something to gauge happiness