College Essay Example

My childhood was wonderful; I loved laughing and adored the feeling of belonging to something. My life appeared perfect to me, and anyone who knew me would have thought the same, because I hadn't known hardship, I was unharmed, aside from a few scraps on the knee. Yes, there were downs, like my parents’ divorce when I was young and the complications that came with custody agreements, though I still viewed my life as perfect. I do remember the nights of my parents on the phone screaming at each other as I sat in the other room, unable to understand how I should react in such a situation, but even after those moments, I still lived my childhood with enjoyment, believing that that was the worst of it.

Eventually, my father found a girlfriend, who loved and treated me like her own daughter, but also told me right from wrong. My mother found a boyfriend, someone who would binge Wrestlemania with me on Monday night, and who I caught my first fish with. They soon meant the world to me just as my parents did. Everything became a normal state which I grew accustomed to, but all good things come to an end.

My life had been so easy for me, so full of joy and people who loved me, that when I was faced with adversity, it tore me apart. In 2009, my stepfather was diagnosed with brain cancer, a glioblastoma multiforme, that was the return of a tumor he'd had as a child. And while the average prognosis is 14 months, his diagnosis was no more than a month before his death. I was naive, unaware of what death felt like to those living who endured the loss.

When he died, the perfect fantasy I had been living crumbled and my belief that ‘all good things were meant to be’ went with it. My realization that life was unfair crashed down on me as I lived through his loss. The hardship of it, and the loss of myself which believed in the good of the world destroyed my hope. As our family was left to repair our lives without him, I decided that maybe being alone was better than any abandonment I could encounter. From there, good things continued to end, people continued to leave, and my belief in good things was buried deeper and deeper, until I was living a life not enjoying things while they lasted, but dreading the day they'd end from the moment they started. The girl who hadn’t known a hard day now faced each day completely disregarding any hope for a happy ending of anything.

As my life continued, I developed a pessimistic and sarcastic outlook on life and while that doesn’t sound like the best, it did shape me into someone who gets things done no matter what and always with a smile on her face. I stopped relying on others to keep me going, and focused on what I needed from myself to continue on as strong as possible. The piece of myself that I lost pushed me to make myself into someone who can stand up for herself, someone who gives her all the first time because life has a funny way of not waiting around for anyone.

Yes, I'm sure everyone has endured loss, but it's not the kind of loss we experience that makes us who we are. In fact, how we respond builds us, gives us character, and defines the moments in our lives which have the largest impact on who we become. Losing my stepfather was an enormous change in my life that took years to overcome. My personal belief that ‘all good things are meant to be’ is no longer something I can stand behind. Now I understand that some things are good while they last, and in order to move on with your life and continue through its many hardships, you have to cherish things while they’re here, work as hard as you can to keep them, but let them go as they leave.