Personal Narrative: My Life In Hawaii

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Moving from Hawaii to New Jersey in 2016 & Winning the soccer state championship.

I grew up in Hawaii, on the island of Kauai, in the middle of the Pacific. Life was more simple on Kauai, as our choices were limited to family, school and the “aina”, the Hawaiian word for land. To me, “aina” meant respectful hiking in the mountains, swimming, surfing and family outings at the beach. More than anything else, this wonderful episode of my life taught me two very valuable virtues of life, patience and tolerance. The concept of “Island time” runs rampant in Hawaii. Although it is frustrating at times, it teaches you to wait for things, because they happen at their own pace. It helps you to understand that sometimes there is nothing you can do to change it. Most often, “island time” relaxes you and relieves the tension and pressures of daily life. I remember several times when i actually hoped “island time” would happen and remove the stress from the moment. I learned about tolerance, from the concept of “Aloha”. To many tourists “Aloha” means “Hello or Goodbye”, but to Hawaii residents it means so much more. Aloha is a spirit, or a way of life, where people get along regardless of race, religion or culture. As Hawaii is one of the most culturally diverse …show more content…

I soon learned that I needed to improve my time management and perseverance skills quickly. Coming from a small high school soccer team in Hawaii, I knew the competition was going to be tougher; especially after discovering my new school, Shore Regional, went to the state finals each of the last 5 years. Just to make this consistently successful team, I needed to adopt a strong work ethic really quickly. As a result, I worked harder than ever before to prove to the coach and my teammates that I could keep up with such a high level of competition. I felt like I was in survival-mode

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