<p>I am applying to Texas Tech right now, and this is my essay for prompt B - What is a challenge/obstacle that you have faced and/or accomplished, list ways, experience, and what you did</p>
<p>It says max of 120 character lines. This is about 50 lines. Is that enough? I wrote this in one sitting. Is it good enough? </p>
<p>An obstacle I have faced in my past life is my lack of confidence in my ability to speak in front of large audiences and use my voice as an appendage for my personal thoughts and reason. Striving to seek reason in the ramblings of my psychosomatic stutter, I faced difficulty in what I perceived as a foreboding situation. From speaking to a large group of my peers, to communicating with my family at the dinner table, all was lost for me. But the fact of the matter was that I wasn’t truly impaired, it, my stammer, was all in my head for many reasons.</p>
<p>Growing up as the middle child of my household, I quickly noticed the fierce competition in who had the voice, the up-most liberty in saying what you want and getting it known to the parents. Or for a better meaning, who gets the most attention. In some sense, I was the back-seat of my older sister’s sports car, and the butler of my younger sister’s doll house. I slunk in anxious wait for the dark shadows of my older sibling to lighten, and I tried determinately to fetch my parents attention toward myself and away from the “the baby” of the family, my younger sibling. But with no luck, I eventually I gave up. I became a nonexistent effort, and I lost my desire to be persuasive and tough in my vocal beliefs and thoughts. I went into a hibernation phase to which I now refer to as “The Slump”. I started to let my friends and take advantage of me, and I obediently did whatever command barked at me by my sisters and parents. I was slowly losing confidence in my abilities and motivation as time went by, and I never exposed my true feelings on a subject to avoid the possibility of being shot down or ridiculed by my peers. This insecurity in my head was created based on my experience with my family, and lived in in my actions and thoughts for a majority of my adolescence.</p>
<p>As high school approached, I knew I needed a change; a fresh start. Anything that would enable me to increase my level of confidence and make me a stronger person was what I desperately longed for. Scouring the school halls on orientation day for freshmen, I pursued to find the key to my resolution. And there it was, sitting patiently for me between the cosmetology and Latin dance club tables, the speech and debate team and ROTC club. Knowing that my aptitude for politics and written argumentation were reasonably high, I was aware that joining the debate team would be the key to letting my thoughts flow effortlessly in verbal communication. And with the added character development of ROTC, the creation of a stronger and more demanding persona would allow for these processes to happen. In that defining moment of my educational and personal life, I signed up for both clubs in hope of creating a new me. </p>
<p>What I learned from Speech and Debate is that confidence is key to all success. Without it we are misplaced in the psychologically unforgiving judgment of our peers and superiors. We can be smart, we can be sound in our logic and reason, but without the ability to convey in a confident manner of swiftness and stout determination, we lose the game of life. I took this idea very seriously. I practiced improvisation in my bedroom, I watched varsity debaters exemplify the act of speech giving at tournaments, and I made sure I got help wherever I needed it in debate class. In ROTC I learned the strict ideals and solid efforts needed to survive not only in the air force, but in the working world. Leave nothing unfinished and do everything to your up-most potential. From pressing my uniform to shining my shoes, I became confident in my appearance, which in turn gave me confidence in my speaking skills. </p>
<p>By October I was ready for my first district tournament. I was ready to face the challenge I dreaded since childhood: conveying my thoughts in speech. I knew I could get far with my resilience in breaking the mental barriers I set for myself in my head all those years. I did what I set myself out to do, not only “break” or qualify for upper level rounds at the tournament, but become a Quarter-Finalist in Lincoln-Douglass debate. It was this moment in my life that I knew I had climbed out of the tunnel I let myself slip into. It was this moment in my life I knew I had accomplished my goal of revitalizing my confidence in not only public speaking, but in my personality and physical actions.</p>