Personal Narrative: My Life As An Outsider

I have faced many trials in my life: emotionally, mentally, and physically, etc. In my youth, my family and I moved every couple of years because my father serves in the Army. Each move introduced new challenges and adjustments. I have lived in five different states, but six different cities. I constantly had to learn how to readjust to my new environment. Moving taught me how to adapt socially , but always starting out as “the new girl” or an “outsider” was burdensome. Repeatedly leaving people I cared about hurt me emotionally, but I also knew that I couldn’t linger in my feelings or else I would miss out on other life opportunities. In order to overcome the feeling of being an outsider, I joined school clubs, participated in extracurricular activities such as soccer and track, and volunteer at church.

Mentally, I face anxiety and bouts of depression but I do not let them rule my life. Anxiety and depression
can make the smallest task seem like the end of the world; they make mountains out of molehills. Despite the struggle, I have learned to overcome my own mental state and achieve feats. I have goals that I am aiming for such as attending medical school and becoming a Pathologist. I will not stop until I achieve them and I will not let anyone, including myself, stand in my way.

Physically, I have struggled with my health since childhood until now.
No, I’m not sickly and I don’t get sick too often, but my body has been through a lot. As a baby, every time I tried solid food I would break out in hives. My parents were worried about my health and had me tested for allergies. After being administered a total of ninety needle pricks, we were informed that I had severe allergies to grapes, tomatoes, carrots, peas, regular milk, pepper, eggs and worst of all chocolate. This made playdates and eating out a bit difficult but I learned to manage my food allergies. Currently, I am in my third round of physical therapy for my left hip. While running track sophomore year, I rotated the bones forward, pulled my quad muscle, strained my TFL muscle, and developed bursitis. My junior year was devastating because I could barely participate. However, I was able to help my 4x100 and 4x200 teams break the high school record. Even though the outlook of my hip situation looked grim, I persevered and will be running track for my senior
year.

I will continue to exceed anything that comes my way. Each obstacle I have faced and conquered has made me a more resilient and confident person. Despite everything I have been through, I have still managed to take a challenging high school curriculum, maintain good grades, participate in a multitude of extracurricular activities and live life to its fullest.