Personal Narrative: A Personal Essay

Trust the process.

I have been playing sports since I was only five-years-old.

On a summer day in 2001, I stepped up to the plate and stared down the pitching machine. I stood in the batter’s box with an orange shirt that went to my knees, my hair in a low ponytail, bangs that almost covered my eyes and a look on my face that explained I had no idea what I was doing.

I left the game that day in a bad mood. I didn’t get a hit. Not once. Actually, I didn’t get a hit for most of the season. That was something that I didn’t take lightly. My mom tried to explain to me that I was younger than the other girls, and that I had never played softball before, but I didn’t budge. I wanted to be the best.

In the sixteen years after that event, I don’t think anyone has considered me to be good at being patient. I want to be good at everything, and I want to be good right now.

I wasn’t going to dominate the competition, nor was I going to be the best on the team. I had a lot of technical running skills that needed fixed and a lot of experience to develop on the track before I could conquer the road ahead of me. I didn’t like that coming in.

All I could see was that I wanted to be good at everything, and I wanted to be good right now.

After struggling during practice, I had given up hope. My frustrations were written all over my face, and my performance was lacking as well.

My coach is a smart man, and one of the greatest people I have had the prviledge of knowing. He knows how to deal with these situations. He pulled me aside and said, “Trust the process.”

At the time, I couldn’t see past the struggle that was currently in front of me, but now three years later I see how important those words are to