A lot of things can happen to a person in a year. A lot did happen to me last year. My junior year of high school caused many trials and tribulations; however, I came out of it a better person.

To begin with, during football I fractured my back on both sides of the L3 vertebra. Before this, I used to train for football at least twice a week, focusing on making myself stronger and faster. These sessions, along with football practice every week night, made me work hard and had me on a schedule. I didn’t get diagnosed until after the football season however, because I didn’t realize how serious this injury was; I thought it was just a pulled muscle and would heal itself after the season ended. I was wrong. Once I got diagnosed, I was instructed to “be a couch potato” for six weeks, and then come back in for a follow-up progress examination. After those six weeks, I was cleared for physical therapy.

Because of the fractures in my back, I was no longer on a schedule, and my work reflected it. My grades in school plummeted, from A’s and B’s to C’s and D’s and even a couple of F’s. I hated myself because I knew I could do so much better. Homework would be ignored, and studying would be “forgotten.” Without a schedule my life was like a leaf in the breeze, or a jellyfish in the ocean, I was so very lost. The tension between my mom and me grew, and I was yelled at every half marking period because of my ailing grades. I hated it, and my motivation to do better diminished, until I finally felt that I had hit rock bottom, I had gotten my first F and it was time to tell my parents, before the report cards came home. After I had told my parents I felt as if they had given up on me, that they were done caring about me and my school work, that I now had to fend for myself.

That’s when it all hit me, I couldn’t accept failure, I had to persevere and come out on top. But my perseverance evaporated when my grandfather died. In April, after months of trying to do better, my grandfather died and that hit me and my whole family hard. I felt distraught and out of place, I had never lived a day without my grandfather. Every Wednesday he would come over for dinner with my family. It was the strangest feeling in the whole world. This feeling kept me preoccupied and in my head during school, preventing me from working, although I tried my hardest, it was to no avail. Some may let a year like this ruin them and their life, however, I refuse to let that happen.

This year I have been more motivated than ever. I’ve completed every assignment I’ve been handed and haven’t skipped one study session. I’ve made sure that I understand all of my work, by asking my teachers questions and staying after for extra help on the things I don’t understand. I cannot accept failure and I won’t.

Through all of these experiences, I learned so much about myself. I now know I need to be on a schedule to complete the tasks set out for me; I know that I am no quitter. I have also rekindled the fire that once burned inside of me to be the best I can be at everything that I do.