Reflective Essay: What Is Determination?

Determination is defined in the dictionary as the the act of coming to a decision or fixing or settling a purpose. That being a very literal meaning it can be hard to understand. I see determination as an aggressive way to go about completing a task. The opposite of determination is being undecided. While being undecided we go about tasks meaninglessly. For example, while I was in high school I was going through the motions. I was there to hang out and enjoy the ride. I still very much enjoy those memories, but I now realized that I was undecided on what it was I wanted to do. I thought I wanted to play football, but it was very clear that I did not truly know. Now I am in college, and I am determined. I got about my time very carefully. It

is sometimes overwhelming dealing with the doctor’s office, and all the visits, but I have to push through, and the reason why is I now l know for a fact I must take my football career as far as I can get. The football is there to keep me determined will now fight and scratch and claw my way through this all towards my ultimate goal. I now can tell the difference between people who are either undecided or determined, and I can respect both of them.
The reason why I can respect both is because I have now experienced both sides of determination and indecisiveness.

When undecided I was scared to branch out, and commit to a daily task. I was afraid to work every day, afraid to give up unhealthy habits, and scared of the failure. Although, the ironic part about the indecisiveness was that I was failing doing that as well. I was scared to try and fail so I would just barely try and barely succeed. Had I just focused on the hard work, I would have easily succeeded. I still have friends from high school who I still talk to and there is one in particular that is lost in the world. He had never planned for the world outside of high school, and I realize that indecisiveness rules his thinking. The reason I say this is it is easy to just stay home, sleep in, and do nothing day after day, but I believe that after a while a feeling of dissatisfaction is develops and we slowly dislike ourselves. Somewhere inside of our minds we want to succeed so we must fight through the indecisiveness, and pick what it is we wish to do. When determination sets in, it instills a confidence that allows me to do things that i never thought I could do. When completing these tasks I feel confident, and as if I am

succeeding.
I met my girlfriend Alexis Rock while we were freshmen in high school, and it was not until our senior year until we started dating. She is still my girlfriend today and through I met the biggest example of determination I could find. The person is her mother. She has raised her daughter single-handedly. Her other Barbra Rock has had the same job for over thirty years. She has been determined way longer than I have and she did s to better herself and then she kept the drive going for her daughter as well. So I instantly knew that she was the person who I wanted to interview.