The whole concept of being “grown-up” is to learn something new and to assess that information in order to improve yourself as an individual. Of course, none of us are really fully mature until the day we die, since each day we learn different things and thereby expand our knowledge of the world.

From birth, our lives are filled with important personal experiences that help us take a step further towards the right direction. As a native child of Peru, I struggled early on in my life with the shift from my homeland to a new country filled with many different cultures and languages. Later on, the challenge became my performance in school since taking regular courses in English was not my strong suit, as Spanish was my native language. Then, during adolescence, another challenge was moving to a new state and transferring to a new school, as the "new kid" is never a fun experience.

However, during my last year of high school, I encountered a new challenge which has tested both my physical and mental endurance, joining the cross country team.

During my first meet, I clearly remember in the midst of the empowering heat, an abundance of people, and an adrenaline rush, a voice in my head was telling me to give up.

After only a few minutes of the course, the mountainous region of Darlington Park in Mahwah became a strenuous task to complete.

The thought of me not finishing my first five-kilometer race was inconceivable. I realized that very first race I participated in was a physically demanding and vigorous exercise that my body was not yet capable of handling.

My performance during the season opener of Cross Country allowed me to evaluate how to accept failure, and begin to appreciate the results of hard work. After receiving disappointing results from my first race, I had no option but to accept my failure and to move forward.

From that day on, I trained extensively, so that during the next race my efforts would not go unnoticed.

From failure, an individual can learn many things. Although things can go horribly wrong or not develop according to a plan, there is always room for improvement.

During my race at Darlington, I felt ashamed to be the last person on the team to finish with a pitiful mileage time.

Thus, I wanted to show my teammates that I was just as capable as they are in any race. The decision I made to improve myself involved extra running and practicing my timed distances. In addition, the lesson I learned from my experience was to never give up what I have started, but rather to finish victoriously.

I channeled what seemed to be my worst performance as a runner into motivation and perseverance for the subsequent races.

After only three months, I improved my mileage time by so much that I was now considered a capable member of the Junior Varsity team, despite it being my first year participating in the sport.

From that point on, I realized that my self motivation is what has kept me going during difficult situations. I have also realized that when I face a challenge, I must remain optimistic in overcoming all odds and take pride in what I am able to accomplish.