Perseverance
To me, perseverance has multiple meanings. Perseverance is having the will to continue when the odds are against you, and perseverance is also what guides those with dreams to their destination. Because of the way that I grew up, I feel that perseverance is one of my most important values that I hold. I have a huge urge to become successful in life, no matter the cost, just so my parents can be proud of their son and so that they can live without any financial worries for the rest of their lives.
I come from a loving family of seven. All of my siblings including myself are adopted. I’m the youngest, and all of my siblings live on their own now. My parents divorced when I was five, and that was a large blow on our family mentally and financially. My mom found employment in a vitamin company after the divorce, and herself and I were able to live somewhat comfortably. She also received child support from my dad, which helped a lot. But then the economy took a dive and the company had to make some cut backs and consequently my mom was laid off. She began to get extremely stressed, and she developed serious fibromyalgia. Seeing her cry every other week due to financial issues made me cringe inside, yet I was too young and felt like I couldn't do anything about it. My dad too experienced financial struggles. Seeing his hard earned money disappear before his eyes in the form of child support, alimony, and other court enforced payments made his life hard.
I come from a loving family of seven. All of my siblings including myself are adopted. I’m the youngest, and all of my siblings live on their own now. My parents divorced when I was five, and that was a large blow on our family mentally and financially. My mom found employment in a vitamin company after the divorce, and herself and I were able to live somewhat comfortably. She also received child support from my dad, which helped a lot. But then the economy took a dive and the company had to make some cut backs and consequently my mom was laid off. She began to get extremely stressed, and she developed serious fibromyalgia. Seeing her cry every other week due to financial issues made me cringe inside, yet I was too young and felt like I couldn't do anything about it. My dad too experienced financial struggles. Seeing his hard earned money disappear before his eyes in the form of child support, alimony, and other court enforced payments made his life hard.
To say the least, seeing both of my parents struggle was rough for me. Yet it made me a stronger person. It made my values ten times stronger and it gave me something to aim for. The saying, "what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” has definitely been a mantra of mine for quite some time now. My sophomore year in high school was a turning point in my life. Before then, I was a slacker and I did not care about academics or athletics. But then I looked inside of me and asked myself: what is the most important thing to you in life? The answer to that was seeing my parents happy. Ever since that epiphany, I have had an undying passion to become successful. To persevere through all of the adversity and obstacles that come my way.
"Perseverance supersedes talent, genetics, and luck. There can be no true success without it."
I’ve come a long way since then. I graduated high school with a 3.75 GPA, and I lettered in Track, cross country, and Football. I set my sights on seeking a higher education, which prompted me to attend the University of Oregon. I’m now pursuing a degree in business administration. I’m still just as driven as I was in high school to become successful. I realize that perseverance is one of the most important values that one can have if they want to find success, which is why it is one of mine.
Behind my first priority of receiving a good education is my commitment to becoming an athlete. I do not do any sports right now, but I am always training and conditioning myself. One of my goals is to make the Oregon football team as a walk-on. Perseverance is especially important in athletics, because there is always room for improvement. Pushing yourself to sprint an extra 100 meters, or do one more set of weightlifting in the gym is what sets athletes apart from normal people. Perseverance and the thought of finding success is what drives me to get up every day and put my 100% into everything I do.
"Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired from the hard work you already did."