The Light at the End of the Tunnel by Brendan

The Light at the End of the Tunnel by Brendan - February 2023 Scholarship Essay

I have had to learn a lot of soft skills in my high school years and I have had many things in my life which have been motivators for me, but nothing compared to the motivation I developed from having a medical condition called Pectus Excavatum. Pectus Excavatum is a condition in which the breastbone sinks into the chest and the ribs flare out. Thankfully, I was not born with a severe form of this condition, which could in turn, affect my heart and lung function due to compression from the chest wall onto those organs. I’m grateful and happy to be free of any health problems, but this did not mean everything was OK. This deformity caused me to become very insecure about my physical appearance due to the unaesthetic look it caused. When I was younger, I was afraid to take off my shirt at the beach or pool for fear of being made fun of for having a “hole in my chest”. Not only did I have this “hole”, but I was also self-conscious about my ribs flaring out because every time I would lie down my ribs would show through my shirt and people would point it out and ask me questions about it. A combination of this deformity, along with the fact that I was extremely thin, led me to discover a complete and utter love of weightlifting.
I have been weightlifting consistently for approximately two years, six days per week. I gained 30 pounds of muscle during this period, due to a rigid workout routine and clean diet. Weightlifting changed my life. It taught me to have discipline and perseverance. It also taught me to take care of myself and stay healthy. Most importantly, it taught me to love myself because if I had never found a love for weightlifting, I would still be the insecure, skinny kid with a “hole” in his chest and not the strong, and independent person I am today. It was as if I was in a dark tunnel and now it seems as if I have reached the light at the end of that tunnel.
Now that I have a passion in life, I want to turn it into a career by graduating from college with a degree that will help me achieve my long-term goal of owning a gym. I want to work with clients and help them overcome their struggles and insecurities just as I did. The "soft" skills I learned by working hard in the gym to overcome this deformity are not "soft" at all, but rather skills that will help me in college and life.