Personal Experience Research Paper

How often do you find yourself so completely submerged in the little tasks of daily life that you feel as if you are drowning? Do you find yourself changing your eating habits or losing sleep over these menial distractions? If so, you are among the twenty percent of Americans that experience "extreme stress," and possibly among the forty-four percent of Americans who feel more stressed than they did five years ago (By Want a Better Place, Inc). Furthermore, you are almost certainly among the seventy-seven percent of Americans who experience physical symptoms of stress (Harden). This is not abnormal; in fact, it has become something of a norm created by our increasingly complex and competitive world. Though you should not be concerned that your …show more content…
From a young age, I knew exactly where I wanted to go to college, what it would it would take, and what I planned on doing once I got there. I knew it would require me being in the top of my graduating class, taking more advanced placement classes than most of my friends, and rising above the crowd in the field of extracurricular activities. My family made sure I was acutely aware of the journey that laid ahead, and I was certain that I was up for the challenge. However, no amount of advising appointments or talks with my guidance counselor could have prepared me for the physical, emotional, and mental stress that I was about to inflict on …show more content…
I was not dealing with a little worrying about a test grade or staying up debating whether or not I would be elected as the student body president; I was losing hours of sleep every night to perfect each and every essay, to ensure that I knew every country and capital on the map that I would be tested over the next morning, or to make sure I had enough information in my PowerPoint to last for the duration of my hour - long presentation. My stressor, or situation perceived as demanding therein invoking a response of intense worrying, (Gazzaniga) was the possibility of not getting into my dream university and setting my entire future back. I would have never successfully made it through those tedious four years if it weren 't for Color Guard. If you have ever been to a football game and sat through half time, then you have probably experienced the joy that is a marching band show. I did not play an instrument; instead, I chose to wave large flags around and throw rifles. Though extremely time consuming, Color Guard was my coping mechanism; it was my escape from the stresses of academia. The wonderful thing about marching band is that it requires the entirety of your focus. Therefore, it made a perfect "out" for when I felt like my head was going to explode from the plethora of detailed facts and figures high school