I’ve spent the last thirteen years falling. Most of the time I defy gravity, but there are many times when I don’t, and land flat on my back instead. One of the first times I experienced this was at five years old, when my mother enrolled me and my sister into a gymnastics class. At the time, for my mom this decision seemed like the right thing to do; her daughters would stay active and healthy from a young age just as she did growing up. Little did my mom know that almost thirteen years later I would still be in love with the sport. This love I experience for gymnastics came at a very high price, or so I thought growing up. Today I understand that this “price” was in fact not a bad thing at all, but a reward.
Many of my friends are obsessed with social media and live in a world filled with F.O.M.O., or the fear of missing out. The only fear I have is F.O.M.L, or the fear of missing
…show more content…
When I was a freshman, I wanted to compete high school gymnastics in addition to club gymnastics. Typically, this would not be a problem, but Westerly High School did not have a gymnastics team and there was not enough interest to start one. As a result, I competed as an individual for Westerly. I traveled to meets by myself and stood alone when the other teams were being introduced. At first I was intimidated by the groups of girls cheering each other on, filling the gymnasium with their premeditated chants, while I would compete and just barely be able to hear my parents cheer me on. Luckily, after a couple meets, the other teams rallied around me and have cheered me on throughout the seasons. In my early years, I feared that gymnastics would eventually ruin my social life, seeing that no one in my school had gymnastics in common with me. I soon learned that gymnastics took away this fear because in my mind, I was not missing out, rather everyone else