Personal Narrative: My Waking Up

I remember waking up on the cold, hard ground having no clue where I was. The only thing I knew was that the pain I was enduring was unbearable. I asked myself, “What the heck am I doing here?!” I slowly looked around and saw a blurred version of my cul de sac. My head started to pound like the rhythm of a clock, gradually speeding up. I attempted to stand up, but the pain was too much. I glanced at my knee… it looked like a waterfall of blood. I laid there alone, waiting for someone to come. It felt like an eternity, each passing second felt like an entire day. My head continued to pound gradually like an angry bull about to be set loose. In my head, I told myself, “Please don't cry, stay strong!” I waited for someone to help me, but it
had only been a minute so far, laying here alone. In that time, I started to reflect and figure out what happened. Then it came to my mind in a blur.
That summer day it was very sunny, but with a small breeze that would blow your hair back like in the movies. I remember playing with my neighbors outside all day. We jumped on the trampoline, played cops and robbers, biked around, and played dumb games. Then later we began rollerblade.
Megan came up to me with a look on her face that told me she was cooking up some new idea in her mind, “Let’s try to combine rollerblading and biking” she said. Megan was my neighbor, she had short brown hair and she was a little taller than me. She was my best friend until I saw through her wicked facade. Megan was the oldest in the cul de sac so that meant she was ALWAYS in charge! She was always very controlling and convinced herself that she was better than everyone else. I pondered with myself to try to find out why she acted the way she did. That day I realized she struggled with her mindset of perfection, to only take it out on others. Her own pride and confidence corrupted her. I used to think of her as a role model, but now I realize how rotten she was to people.
That day changed everything. I felt like a patient waking up from a coma. My eyes were opened and my perspective of our world transformed into something completely new. That was a milestone of growing up. I not only became wiser that day, but also more confident in who I am.
All the neighbors agreed to the stupid idea of rollerblading and biking, but my conscience completely opposed of this disastrous idea. I remember having a pit in my stomach, a worry that this idea would be my worst mistake. I put on my rollerblades and told my sister “Please be careful!!” I slowly went to the bottom of my driveway to join the kids in the middle. Longing Megan’s approval, I said no to my conscience and told myself that there was nothing to worry about.
Megan proposed the idea of first going down the biggest hill. We rolled up to the top of the hill. In my head, my conscience nagged me and repeated the words “Don’t do it!”. I didn’t want to try this idea at all. I knew it would get me injured in some way. In this time I anxiously and rapidly argued with my conscience, the battle that we all know. To give into the peer pressure, to be accepted, or to listen to my gut. I felt sick to my stomach, it was like a death march.
I listened to the kid’s bicker on who should go down first. As the kids go down the hill one by one, I slowly and slyly urged my way to the back of the line. My neighbors chanted, taunted, and urged me to go down the hill. Their high-pitched nagging voices repeatedly say “Come on,” “Don't be a chicken,” “It's your turn!” I nervously convinced myself to step up. I cautiously started to go down the hill and then realized the fun and thrill of it. The thrill of the moment forced me to think, “This is really fun, it's not as bad as I thought it was!” I went down safely. I continue to go down the hill about two more times, but I still have a knot in my stomach. I was ashamed I gave in to the peer pressure. Then, everyone went inside while I stayed outside, continuing to go down the hill. I now realize it was the worst mistake of my life.
I started to rollerblade up the hill.
I was almost to the top of the hill, but then I realized that one of my rollerblade’s was untied. I reached down to tie my rollerblade. At that moment I knew I screwed up badly. I had forgot to push down the break on my bike. Everything from then on turned into a slow motion movie with no sound, I could hear my heart beating like a drum. I started to roll down the hill rapidly, backward with my bike. I quickly jerked my handlebars to the side to try to stop, but scraped my stomach when the handlebars cut into my stomach. I slid down the hill rapidly with my knee pressed firmly to the ground. Everything from then on speeds up and time gradually speeds up like a treadmill. Everything blacks out and that’s how I ended up on the ground of my cul de
sac.
Finally, I snap out of a daze like waking up from a coma and the actual pain kicks in. The tears start to pour down my face. My neighbor finally came out and realizes I was laying in the middle of the cul de sac with my knee in a puddle of blood. I saw her run faster than Usain Bolt to my door to tell my parents that I’m injured badly. I started to black out again, everything is fading. I woke up again to my Dad picking me up and carrying me to the house. My stomach burned. Then I realized that my stomach was severely bleeding.
When we get inside my Dad sets me down on the couch. He said, “Try to relax, Let me go and get the first aid kit.” He ran to get the first aid kit, then he started to wash my knee first with soap and water. The soap burned my cut badly, but not as badly as the alcohol that came after the soap. I remember crying in pain when he started to clean my knee with the alcohol. After he cleaned the cuts up, I laid there on my couch watching tv. Then my neighbor Avery came to my door and handed my Dad a card. The card was for me and it said: “Get Well Soon!” I opened the card and I saw that most of the neighborhood kids signed it.
Now that I look back at that moment I realize how dumb and stupid I was, back when I was a child. I remember always looking up to my neighbor, Megan. She was one year older than me and she was my best friend. The only thing that I didn’t enjoy about her was that she never respected me or truly valued me. Megan always had to be the one who made all the decisions. I regret a lot of the dumb mistakes that I made in my childhood. My favorite quote is “After all these years. I am still involved in the process of self-discovery. It’s better to explore life and make mistakes than to play it safe. Mistakes are part of the dues one pays for a full life.” -Sophia Loren
That day I learned how someone’s pride and confidence can corrupt them and change them into a completely different person.
That a person can struggle with their mindset of perfection, to only take it out on others.
The true lesson is to stay true to yourself. You need to listen in to your gut. Even when there are over 100 people in your life telling you that you’re wrong, listen in to your conscience and be confident in yourself. This lesson can be important to us and show us how to make wise decisions. We need to learn how to think before we act. Before you make a decision, think about the outcome of it and how it will affect you. I learned how to think for myself and I realized that I don’t have to take the opinions of people who aren’t my good friends.
If I didn’t make the dumb mistakes that I did in my childhood, I would probably eventually still make them later on in my life. This event affected my life by making me think about things before I do them. I actually carry this part of my past with me every day. I have a big scar on my knee and a scar on my stomach from that day. It is a part of my past and represents the outcomes and effects of the decisions you make in your
life.