When I was younger I did ballet for five years. I liked the difficulty behind it and the feeling of accomplishment when I learned a new move. I even liked the excruciating pain I would have from standing on my toes. I still have my very first pair of point shoes, of course now they are broken and torn from the many hours of work that went in to them. But they were beautiful when I first got them, pink satin with long ribbons that went all the way up my leg. They were perfect. I got to wear those point shoes in the production of the Nutcracker that my studio would put on every year. I liked being on stage with all eyes on me. When I was younger I really liked to be the center of attention and dancing on stage was exciting. I would get really nervous before I went on stage but once I was out there I forgot all about everyone watching and just though about the moves I was supposed to be doing and tried to make them as perfect as possible. There was one part in the Nutcracker that everyone wanted to be and that was Clara. Everyone wanted to be Clara and that’s all I had wanted to be and I worked hard so that I would be her when I was old enough.

When I was in third grade I was asked to be the Nutcracker in the ballet. It was the first time they had ever used a real person to be the Nutcracker, they normally used a doll. It toke a lot of hard work because I was on stage almost the entire time and the dance was a lot different than what I was used to, it was more robotic because I had to act like a doll. But that was my favorite part to because it was a main part and I had a lot of scenes to dance in. My entire third grade class came to see me perform and even made me a card telling me how good I did. It felt so great and I felt so accomplished.

Since ballet is an art that is meant to be perfected, I had dance practice every day after school for about three hours, and for a fifth grader that’s a lot. Especially when all my friends were playing sports at school, or they had free time. I envied my friends and dance stopped being fun and started being work. I wanted to quit but I was scared of the unknown. All I had done all my life were tights and tutus. I talked to my parents and it seemed to bother them too. I was about to quit the only thing I had done for almost my entire life. It was going to be a big change. But I had made up my mind, it was time to quit. I was very upset once I gave it up. It felt weird not to be so busy and even boring. I started questioning why I would give something up that I loved so much but for some reason I knew it was the right thing to do.

After a while I started getting involved in more sports. I played basketball and softball and even did the circus at school. I started being busy again, sometimes I still thought about ballet because of how terrible I was at both basketball and softball. I was so mad that I had quit something I was good at, it was my safe zone and it was gone. I was comfortable with dancing because I knew how to do it. So once I was in eighth grade and I had gone through three painful years of sitting bench for basketball. A family friend came to me with the idea of playing lacrosse. She said I should quit basketball and softball for it. She thought I would do really well. But again, I was going into the unknown. But this time the decision was easy for me. I was not interested in the sports I was playing and only did them because I got to hang out with my friends. The only thing I was unsure of was what if I’m just as bad at lacrosse as I am at these sports. Maybe I’m not supposed to play sports. But I tried it and absolutely loved it. I’ve worked hard to be good at lacrosse and I’m glad I decided to quit basketball and softball.

When I first tried lacrosse it was hard. But something about the sport really drew me in. It took a lot of technique but once I learned how to catch and throw the sport became easier. That’s when I really started to like it. I would practice for hours every day hitting a pitch back. I would practice throwing and catching till my arms were sore and my hands were just calluses. That’s how I knew that I really liked the sport. With softball and basketball I had never wanted to practice outside the sport I just wanted to play, simply because I had nothing else to do. But now I play lacrosse for the love of the game. I always work to get better and it’s my comfort zone that I never want to leave. I don’t mind the long two hour practices like I did with ballet, and I don’t mind watching everyone else hang out with friends and go to parties. I don’t even mind going to the gym anymore, its going to make me better so I want to do it. This is finally what I know I want to do for the rest of my life and I am going to work as hard as I can to make sure that I get to do what I love and be good at it.

When I think about the journey it took for me to get to something that I love, I realized that it was long and also very hard to get where I am today. But this could pertain to almost everything in life, my job, love, school and sports. Because even when I had to let ballet go and get out of my comfort zone I started going on journey towards something that is my life now, something that I plan to go to college for. Im not saying I should always quit but if it’s not getting me anywhere then why not find something that will be better and help me in the long run. So when things get bad or I am unsure if I should leave something I am comfortable with, I will always say yes because there is something better out there. It might just take a little while to find.