UC Essay Prompt #5: : Describe the most difficult challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to overcome this challenge. How has this challenge affected your academic achievement?
“Where’s Trinity?” The footsteps were getting closer. I held my breath, sure I wouldn’t be found this time. Silence. Then suddenly, the door opened. He swooped me into the air and tickled me. I laughed so hard I couldn’t breathe as the living room blurred around me in a swirl of color. Finally, I was put back on the ground, a little off balance and dizzy. I gave my dad a big hug. Sophomore year I had to write a personal narrative about an event that has had the biggest impact on my life. Teachers and close friends encouraged me to write about my dad, which I had never done before. I was torn. I remembered every detail about that night, even though I had never really talked about it with anyone but my mom. I decided to write about the night he died, which meant that I had to go back and think of every single detail that I could remember. It was like reliving that night over and over again. Confusion mixed with fear, my four year old self wanting to make it better but not knowing how. It was really hard for me to write at school because I didn’t want anyone to read it or to know how I really felt. When I wrote at home, I would cry because I had always tried so hard never to think about what had happened. When it was time for critique, I only allowed my closest friends to read it. It was hard for me to take their critique because I felt like it was so personal and it was a part of me I had never really shared with anyone. That was the hardest writing assignment ever but writing that personal narrative helped me deal with a lot of painful feelings that I had repressed. After it was completed, it was easier to talk about his death. Writing about it helped me to overcome the fear and uneasiness of sharing that experience and that part of me with other people.