Living Life Like a Marathon by Kortni

Living Life Like a Marathon by Kortni - November 2014 Scholarship Essay

High school is a stressful time for many students. Some students worry about getting perfect grades and participating in a lot of extracurriculars to impress competitive colleges. Others get overwhelmed with all the demands being placed on them, and develop anxiety for their post-high school life. It's a trying time, but if you develop this one trait, you can take on anything. That trait is grit.

Grit can mean the difference between success and failure. It's about dedicating yourself to personal excellence. We all have goals for ourselves. How many people do you know set New Year's Resolutions for themselves? How many people do you know that actually stick to those resolutions? Many don't. While being motivated to set new goals for yourself is a nice trait to have, grit is the toughness to stick to those goals for a long time. Anyone can set a goal and follow it for a few days or weeks. Grit allows you to stick to your goals for months, years even. Grit gives you the stamina to live life like it's a marathon; it is the tortoise that finishes the race, even when it seems pointless and felt like giving up.

Developing grit as a freshman is helpful to you because intelligence and studying alone aren't enough to reach your academic goals. Your work is going to get harder. A lot will be expected of you, both in your studies and your extracurriculars. Most freshmen will get burnt out, and will want to quit. This is human, but the freshman that develops grit will yearn for success. All those feelings of exhaustion won't stand a chance, and instead, you'll be determined to stick with your goals!

Grit is a trait that will help you long after high school has ended. The ability to persevere and brush yourself off after a stumble will take you far in life. Whatever dreams you may have aren't going to come easily. If it was easy, it wouldn't be worth aspiring to. If you have grit there's nothing you can't take on. Whether that's graduating from high school and getting into college, losing weight, or training for a marathon; grit will help you succeed.