“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure”-Marianne Williamson

The first race of senior year, a cold March afternoon, the temperature couldn’t have been above 35 degrees. I went through my usual warmup routine as I did for the past four years. Lining up for the 400-meter dash, perhaps it was the cold, perhaps it was nerves, but I was tight as I adjusted onto my starting blocks. As I pushed off to begin the race, I felt a sharp pain in my left foot. After almost coming to a complete stop, I decided to keep going. In what was one of the most physically painful moments of my life, I somehow made my way around the track. I received the worst time I could have ever imagined in a race I was the clear favorite. After reaching the finish line, I complete collapsed. Trainers and officials rushed towards me and I knew in that moment, filled with pain, my dream of running track or playing any sport in college was over.

However, pain is two things; inevitable and temporary. Here’s the reality. Life is not easy or fair. Each of us has our misfortunes, makes mistakes, gets rejected, and mistakes. By accepting this unconditional fact, we can realize that our struggles define who we become and allow us to become. Think of it as lifting weights. When you lift weights, you are actually breaking the fibers of your muscles and after resting, cellular repair makes them stronger. Our mind and soul go through a similar process. The ancient Greeks, the founders of track and field, called it Opa or “triumph of the spirit” and Opa is what allows us to bounce back and finish the race.

I believe in resilience, in going the distance, in overcoming obstacles, or whatever you wish to call it, and I believe that it is the resilience is the most important factor in finding success and happiness. After getting injured, I recovered and was able to compete at the end of the season though not at full strength while at the same time helping to guide my travel soccer team back to a winning record. I even had enough strength to climb the Colorado Rockies this summer and still run frequently.

The first step of resilience is perspective. While I have certainly had unfair adversity, I also realized that was balanced with undeserved virtue and recognizing my own role in creating my circumstances, however, I could have strengthened my leg muscles more and practiced running out of blocks to prevent such an injury from taking place. While it was certainly didn’t deserve to get injured in that manner and have a lack of support through during the recovery, I also didn’t deserve to have access to care through my recovery, to have parents who offered me unconditional support throughout my athletic career and all endeavors, and certainly didn’t deserve to be blessed with a body that allowed me to preform those athletic feats. This applies to life in general as well, as we all must examine that we can play a role in creating our own struggles and our adversity is oftentimes balanced by our blessings.

Resilience is more than perspective, though. It is forged through an internal desire for glory that allows us to overcome any obstacles and a recognition of our greater purpose. There is perhaps no greater example of this than in the extraordinary story of Olympic runner and World War II hero Louis Zamperini. The book about Zamperini’s life, Unbroken, connected with me on a deep personal level. Zamperini was a first-generation Italian American raised in southern California, he became a running protégé at USC before placing fourth in 1936 Olympics in Berlin in the 1600 meter. Unfortunately, his dream of winning a gold medal in 1940 was cut short by the advent of World War II. Becoming a bomber pilot, his plane crashed, and he survived for 40 days in the on a raft central Pacific before being captured by the Japanese. He then underwent immense physical and emotional torture that most of us could never dream of but he somehow survived. Upon returning home, Zamperini suffered with severe PTSD and substance abuse before meeting a young preacher named Billy Graham who changed Zamperini’s life forever. He then spent the next several decades inspiring throughout Southern California and the world, even returning to Japan several times to forgive his captors.

Zamperini realized, like me that our strength is not entirely our own. I came to realize that “triumph of the human spirit” came from a higher power and my life had a higher meaning. Each of us has failures, struggles, pains, and adversity but each of us also has a spark inside us. An amazing ability to rebound from those obstacles. I believe of us has this Opa and can become unbroken. I believe that no matter how much pain we might be in, we can always finish the race.

Improvements:

Shorten

Be more specific

Talk about Zamperini earlier

Too many points

Talk more about changing perspective and less about physical pain

Don’t write essays in one sitting while watching the Nuggets vs Warriors game