I was never much of a risk taker. I never wanted other to watch me slip and fall. I was afraid that if I fell, I wouldn’t be able to get back up.
This changed on January 16th, 2012. That day, I went on a trip with the school ski club to the Pocono Mountains. Upon arrival at Blue Mountain, my friend Kaley and I started to make our way to the lifts. Kaley and I skied down as many trials as we could. We had fun going down increasingly difficult slopes. We rode the lifts to around 9p.m.; it was almost time to go. Our last trail was the most challenging of the night and it looked like a death drop. I looked over at Kaley.

“Are you sure this is the one you want to go down?”

She responded, “I’m pretty sure.”
I went for it and I fell. I got right back up, but as I continued to ski, I heard a cracking sound like a stick being snapped into kindling. I fell back down. My eyes filled with tears. Everyone passing by stopped and asked if I was ok.

I had broken my leg. I missed more than week of school and when I did return it was in a wheelchair. The hardest part of being back in school was trying to ignore the looks I got from my fellow students. Only a few months prior I had switched schools, and still felt very new and awkward. Even though I did not know everyone at my new school, they all knew me. Not by name, but as the girl who fell on the ski trip.
My grades started to plummet. I started to give up. I didn’t study or hand work in on time. “What is the purpose of trying,” I thought, “I can’t do it.” My leg hurt, and I didn’t believe that there was any way I could make up for all the work I missed. I never knew what it was like to feel like a failure until this point in my life. I had actually let myself give up and there isn’t a worst feeling in the world that can compare to that.
. I felt the need to redeem myself and correct my past mistakes. The next year I started over. I never got an assignment grade back that I wasn’t ecstatic about. I put more work into school than I ever had before and it was worth it. My grades were sky high. I was always ahead and knew what was happening in class. I learned how to study properly and increase my work ethic without procrastinating.

If I hadn’t gone down that steep mountain, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I learned that I can achieve any goal and that there is no such thing as being a failure. I know what it’s like to try and I also know what it’s like to be at the bottom. Never again will I reach that point in my life where I feel as though I have failed. Even though things didn’t fall into place the way I thought they were going to, I do not have any regrets. I had an extremely hard time but in the end I learned that if I fall I can get back up.