Autobiography Assignment
In my life thus far I have found that the two aspects of life that have most influenced the course my life has taken and the person I am becoming, are the large decisions in life I have made and the people I have met. I have often made decisions straying from the obvious path ahead of me and am certain that without the experiences I gained from these choices, I would not be the same person today. Likewise, I have been very lucky to have some exceptional people wander into my life who have helped to shape the ideals I value and the person I am striving to be.
At the age of thirteen I made a decision that I believe forever altered the course of my life, the friends I have, and the way I see the world today. I chose to leave the life I knew at home and instead attend a boarding school in Crested Butte, Colorado to pursue my love for the sport of skiing. As an only child, this was the first time I truly had an experience where I was living in very close contact with many other people my own age. In some ways it was very difficult to adjust and I experienced my fair share of homesickness in the first few months. However, the people I encountered were so friendly, welcoming, and entertaining that I quickly began to feel more and more at ease in my surroundings and also with myself. I soon began to realize that this was no typical high school and that the bonds in this community were extremely strong…both between students themselves but also between students and members of faculty. Between taking classes together, completing chores together (seemingly endless when you were on shovel duty and it had just snowed 2 feet), procrastinating together, sharing the experience of being forced out of bed by a phone call from an irate ski coach at the crack of dawn for a jump rope workout, and most importantly sharing a love for the mountains, environment, and most obviously the snow, you form friendships that easily withstand many of the more petty concerns of teenage life. Hardly realizing it, I found myself all of a sudden a part of this community, with closer friends than I had ever had before. One of the lessons I have taken from this experience is that although I feel discomfort at the start of embarking on new adventures such as this one, with patience and time I all of a sudden find myself happy and within my own niche, hardly remembering the struggles it took to get there. Perseverance through feelings of awkwardness and self-doubt, I have found, is essential towards reaching those feelings of inclusion and comfort both within one’s own skin and one’s community.
I have tried to carry these lessons with me as I have bounced around from place to place in the last few years, finding myself having to adapt to new communities—not necessarily all as obviously open and welcoming as the one I experienced in Crested Butte. It was during this period that I began to truly value the close friendships I retained from high school and the new ones I was making. During the summer after my senior year, (a rough one as due to circumstances beyond my control I had spent the year attending a private high school in Cincinnati leaving behind beloved friends, teachers, and mountains) I happened to meet a friend who would prove to help me see both the world and myself in new and ever-changing ways. Although we grew up in the same neighborhood, our paths had never crossed but ever since they did, Ryan has been a constant presence in my life. When I was living abroad in Spain the following fall he was someone to talk to and a provided a consistency, which tempered the ups and downs of an experience that was foreign to me in so many ways. But aside from simply providing a shoulder to cry on or someone to brag to about my accomplishments, he is a friend that also forces me to challenge my own opinions and perceptions which often either forcing me to reevaluate the way I feel about an issue or realize that my convictions are strong enough that I have a deep-seated desire to defend them. From politics, to the environment and science to religion he is a person with whom I cannot only discuss these topics, but I can figure out what it is that I really think—not just to spit back what someone else may have told me. This friendship has taught me to be humble, have an open mind, and above all to pursue the things I am truly passionate about. His advice has helped me to decide to change my major and pursue the study of Art History, something I was afraid to do although it was what I was truly interested in simply because of a fear of being unable to find a job. As a kind, compassionate, un-materialistic person with an openness of mind that I am unceasingly impressed with, Ryan makes me strive to embody these qualities in my own life and also seek to forge an identity that is all my own. He is one person in my life who has made me appreciate the importance of having people in your life always who you can always talk to and will provide you with advice without attempting to sway your decisions.
As my life marches on and I continue to grow, change, and be shaped by my personal environment and experiences, there are certain stages in my life such as these I have expanded upon that will always continue to have a lasting effect on me and have irreversibly changed me in various ways.
At the age of thirteen I made a decision that I believe forever altered the course of my life, the friends I have, and the way I see the world today. I chose to leave the life I knew at home and instead attend a boarding school in Crested Butte, Colorado to pursue my love for the sport of skiing. As an only child, this was the first time I truly had an experience where I was living in very close contact with many other people my own age. In some ways it was very difficult to adjust and I experienced my fair share of homesickness in the first few months. However, the people I encountered were so friendly, welcoming, and entertaining that I quickly began to feel more and more at ease in my surroundings and also with myself. I soon began to realize that this was no typical high school and that the bonds in this community were extremely strong…both between students themselves but also between students and members of faculty. Between taking classes together, completing chores together (seemingly endless when you were on shovel duty and it had just snowed 2 feet), procrastinating together, sharing the experience of being forced out of bed by a phone call from an irate ski coach at the crack of dawn for a jump rope workout, and most importantly sharing a love for the mountains, environment, and most obviously the snow, you form friendships that easily withstand many of the more petty concerns of teenage life. Hardly realizing it, I found myself all of a sudden a part of this community, with closer friends than I had ever had before. One of the lessons I have taken from this experience is that although I feel discomfort at the start of embarking on new adventures such as this one, with patience and time I all of a sudden find myself happy and within my own niche, hardly remembering the struggles it took to get there. Perseverance through feelings of awkwardness and self-doubt, I have found, is essential towards reaching those feelings of inclusion and comfort both within one’s own skin and one’s community.
I have tried to carry these lessons with me as I have bounced around from place to place in the last few years, finding myself having to adapt to new communities—not necessarily all as obviously open and welcoming as the one I experienced in Crested Butte. It was during this period that I began to truly value the close friendships I retained from high school and the new ones I was making. During the summer after my senior year, (a rough one as due to circumstances beyond my control I had spent the year attending a private high school in Cincinnati leaving behind beloved friends, teachers, and mountains) I happened to meet a friend who would prove to help me see both the world and myself in new and ever-changing ways. Although we grew up in the same neighborhood, our paths had never crossed but ever since they did, Ryan has been a constant presence in my life. When I was living abroad in Spain the following fall he was someone to talk to and a provided a consistency, which tempered the ups and downs of an experience that was foreign to me in so many ways. But aside from simply providing a shoulder to cry on or someone to brag to about my accomplishments, he is a friend that also forces me to challenge my own opinions and perceptions which often either forcing me to reevaluate the way I feel about an issue or realize that my convictions are strong enough that I have a deep-seated desire to defend them. From politics, to the environment and science to religion he is a person with whom I cannot only discuss these topics, but I can figure out what it is that I really think—not just to spit back what someone else may have told me. This friendship has taught me to be humble, have an open mind, and above all to pursue the things I am truly passionate about. His advice has helped me to decide to change my major and pursue the study of Art History, something I was afraid to do although it was what I was truly interested in simply because of a fear of being unable to find a job. As a kind, compassionate, un-materialistic person with an openness of mind that I am unceasingly impressed with, Ryan makes me strive to embody these qualities in my own life and also seek to forge an identity that is all my own. He is one person in my life who has made me appreciate the importance of having people in your life always who you can always talk to and will provide you with advice without attempting to sway your decisions.
As my life marches on and I continue to grow, change, and be shaped by my personal environment and experiences, there are certain stages in my life such as these I have expanded upon that will always continue to have a lasting effect on me and have irreversibly changed me in various ways.