Make_or_Break__It's_Up_to_You

Life is full of challenges and obstacles that can control a person’s identity. Cliché or not, in one way or another it’s true. Kayaking, like life, is something we can’t control but can prepare for. Many believe that life is a journey with obstacles that a person must overcome to grow. These challenges are the building blocks that shape and mold what a person becomes. In ones life a person is often surrounded by people who have trials in and around their lives. In kayaking Alvin Powell, a former pro football player/extreme substance abuser who now assists children with similar weaknesses through a non-profit organization, so clearly proclaimed that if we fight against the rapids they can strengthen and increase our balance and perception. However if a person decides to stop fighting against the current or rapids, the buoy once used to help strengthen the person now has the potential to destroy them. In life it can be the same way. When a person comes upon a dilemma they must fight in order to help strengthen them unless they choose to give up, which in that case it has the capability to impair ones state of mind. Depending on how a person reacts to the “rapids” of life and how their attitude towards it is defines how they will be sculpted. Walt Whitman once wrote “the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse! What will your verse be' Life is about creating and molding your own path, it is about your story. Each trial and tribulation only draws us closer to the truth; our truth!” Recently I had to overcome a trial in my path about whether to move to a small town in with my mother, or to continue living in the city with my father. I decided to give the town a chance even though I wasn’t too sure of what may have laid ahead. During my residence in the town I had conquered many challenges that had molded me into a very different person. Different as in before I moved because I was surrounded by people who had different beliefs who caused me to be tempted more easily. After I had moved I was strengthened and the temptations weren’t t as great therefore making me stronger. Without having difficulties to impede my path I would be much weaker and may be easily tossed in the rapids. My attitude towards this change was positive and that helped the situation make me instead of break me. Friends and family have been a main recourse of support in these troubled times, and likewise I can help them with theirs. One friend of mine has been greatly strengthened by their personal obstacles, one of which was ironically a serious substance abuse problem. He came to me for help when he was in dire need of a friend. I could see that what he truly needed was not somebody to criticize him or to tell him what his problem was, he evidently knew exactly what was wrong. What he needed was somebody strong to listen and help lead him in the proper direction, without judgment. And because of the trials I overcame I knew the feeling of being alone and or judged, I knew exactly what he needed to help him get safely over this hurdle. What he went through and eventually overcame with much effort has strengthened him greatly in many different ways. Only he could truly change the situation, I was merely a crutch in times of need. He changed his attitude and rewrote his verse. Now he is closer with his family and friends because he knows what it is like to go without. He is more aware of how his decisions affect not only himself but everybody around him. Conquering this obstacle he has gone for the better and has the potential to be a better person. When a person travels through the journey of life and as a person may grow, we see it is the obstacles that help to strengthen and mold ones identity. Depending on ones attitude towards the obstacle, decides whether it will make or break them. Prepare for the rapids, write a verse in the play, pay close attention to your attitude and hope for an encore.