Everybody encounters things that he or she must deal with throughout his or her life. The eminent thing is that I am able to find a way to work through those strenuous times or difficult situations. Through my own experience, I discovered a skill that sincerely helped me with continuously hauling myself through hard times and getting me back on my feet. This skill that I uncovered is called perseverance. Perseverance helps me to keep trying to do better. It guides me to keep progressing past whatever it is that is holding me back. Perseverance helps me allow the difficult times to shape who I am and accept that they are there to help me grow and change. It has always tremendously helped me push myself to be the best that I can be. Personally, I have encountered many circumstances and experiences in which perseverance was essential. In my experience, perseverance is a fundamental part of openly discovering who you are and bettering yourself as a person.

From a young age, I immensely aspired to learn how to ride a bicycle. It was a small part of this scary and fascinatingly undiscovered territory. I told my mother how badly I utterly desired to make this happen. One day she brought me to the store so that I could pick out my first bicycle. There were more bicycles than I had ever imagined. There were so many diverse colors and sizes; I was wildly overwhelmed. Out of the hundreds of bicycles on the rack, one bicycle stood prominently to me. It was reflecting brightly with a glistening pink with neon green stripes and had a small brown woven basket on the front. The moment I had seen it, I immediately recognized that this was the one. I was ecstatic to bring home a brand new bicycle whose tires smelled of rubber and tire cleaner. This was the fun part, enjoyably picking out a girly bicycle with pretty colors that had holographic ribbons delicately draped over the handlebars. Soon followed the hard part, learning to ride the bicycle.

My mother and I brought my new bike outside; it lightly smelled of rain on the pavement of a hot summer day. The air felt warm and damp. My mom hesitantly lowered the seat and held the bike up as I got on. I slowly began to pedal. The sound of the tires clicking fascinated me.  Wow, this isn't so bad, I thought to myself. My mother thoughtfully asked me if I was ready for her to let go. Of course, I said yes, I was ready. Before I even got the chance to pedal once more, my bike unsteadily tipped right over. I was suddenly devastated. It was a good thing my mother invested in knee and elbow pads.  Although I was a bit shaken, I was determined to try again. And again. And again. My mother was there supporting me through it each time I fell, and each time I got back up. 
            I began disappointingly telling her how I would never be able to do it without falling, that it was a waste of time. But without even knowing it, I was doing it all on my own. I was steadily pedaling and balancing and talking all at once. When I put my feet down on the ground to stop myself and quickly turned around to find my mother tensely walking behind me, I couldn't believe what I saw. I had actually done it. I suppose all of that falling paid off. My mother was so proud of me. But more importantly, I was proud of myself. I had achieved my goal of riding a bike. It was not easy, but I had done it. Every time I fell, with a fair amount of encouragement, I got back up. Yes, my knees were scraped, and yes, I had a helmet head, but I could ride a bicycle, which is more than I could say the previous day. I could ride a bicycle.

Perseverance is a skill that is greatly going to help me through all of my life and has already vastly helped me get through so much. As said by Julie Andrews, “Perseverance is failing 19 times and succeeding the 20th.”  I may fall a million more times, metaphorically speaking of course. Maybe literally, every once in a while. But I will get back up, every time. Because I know I can. And I know that I need to.

-Maya Sweeney