Artifacts Essay free essay sample

In â€Å"Rebel Music†, Daniel Felsenfeld delves into the inspirations he has drawn from music in his childhood. He tells of the struggles he experienced and the lack of inspiration from mandatory piano lessons from Ms. Shimizu. Although he dazzled her every time, he never felt connected to the music. Felsenfeld reminisced, â€Å"I was experiencing a personal drought, an acrid lack of culture of all kinds, especially music† (Felsenfeld 624). After he heard Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony while with a friend, he had an epiphany. He felt that in this moment, he heard music for the first time. From then on, he became obsessed and revolved his entire life around it. He then went on to become a composer despite his non-musical family background. Felsenfeld’s passion for music as a child encouraged him to be the person he is today, which is similar to the way gymnastics influenced my life. Gymnastics was a huge part of my life growing up, and I realize now that the sport allowed me to learn the valuable traits I use today. We will write a custom essay sample on Artifacts Essay or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Being a gymnast taught me many things but especially how to be dedicated, how to be a team player and how to never give up. To begin, being a gymnast when I was younger taught me how to be dedicated. When I was a child, I would spend five hours, five days a week training in the gym. Although I was only in middle school, I was taught that practice was the only way to be successful. My day was planned out to the minute and it was to be strictly followed. I would wake up in the morning, eat breakfast and head to school. When school was over, my mother would drive me to the gym and I would have exactly two hours to do homework. At four o’clock, practice started and did not end until nine p. m. I would then eat dinner and go to bed. The next morning, it would start all over again. Although I practiced year round, competition season was always the most grueling. Practice got harder and we had to be even more devoted during this time. Even though it seemed to be somewhat too demanding of someone my age, doing well at a competition made up for all the hard work. When my name was announced to go stand on the podium, my heart would race and I knew that the commitment I showed paid off. No matter what though, I always felt a sense of pride and accomplishment. I knew that all of my dedication was the sole reason that I received that medal. Currently, I know that gymnastics has shaped me into the young woman I am today. Every morning when I wake up to go to my morning classes I realize that I can only handle this because of the values that were instilled into me by the grueling sport. I have managed to keep the sense of dedication throughout the years and continue to keep up the habit. I know that if I work hard, then everything in life can be accomplished. In school specifically, I know that if I stay dedicated to my schedule I will graduate and earn the diploma I need for a career. Gymnastics will forever influence my behavior and has given me the strength to stay dedicated to any task that I have taken on. Not only has gymnastics taught me how to be dedicated, but it has also taught me how to be a team player. Most people assume that gymnastics is solely an individual sport. However, they are extremely mistaken. Although an individual gymnast must work hard to pursue their goals and place well in competitions, they must also keep their entire team in mind. At the end of the individual scoring at a meet they always give an award to the top placing team. A gym must always work together and perform to their very best so they can achieve a gold medal together. Winning a gold medal as a team is a high honor that only certain organizations who can work together can obtain. Every gymnast must realize that gymnastics is not only for their benefit, but their teammates as well. When a team receives a first place, it boosts morale and even helps with the reputation. Luckily, my gym had a reputation to be one of the best, so everyone who was on the team knew there was a certain standard to be held. I knew, as well as everyone else that, that in order to place well, we must work hard as a team. We had to motivate and push each other to do well. Since I was taught teamwork, working as a waitress has come naturally. I know that to be successful in the workplace you must work together as team. Currently, I am a waitress at a restaurant. I have realized that in order to help every guest to fullest, I must work together with my coworkers. If the guest feels that everyone in the entire restaurant is there to help them, they tend to be happier and in the end, tip better. Therefore, gymnastics has taught me to be a team player and has even made a habit out of it. As well as dedication and teamwork, gymnastics has also taught me how to never give up. As a gymnast, I was constantly working on skills and getting stronger. Sometimes though, it would take days, months or even weeks to perfect the skills I was working on. Even though I wasn’t able to do the trick the first time, I knew that if I didn’t give up, I would eventually achieve my goal. Not only were the skills gradually getting more difficult, my back injury was also getting worse. Therefore, not only was I going against my body, I was also trying to achieve something a normal middle school student could not do. Although my injury eventually forced me to give up the sport entirely, it influenced and molded me into the person I am today. I remember for about a month before I had to give up the sport, I was working on trying to master a back handspring on the balance beam. Unfortunately, this put a lot of strain on my back and I couldn’t manage to do it. I kept trying and trying so that I could finally accomplish it. I knew that my time as a gymnast was slowly coming to an end, but I had to learn the skill before I quit. Eventually, I managed to work my way up to doing it, but knew that was probably the last thing I could do without hurting my back even worse. Although I did end up having to quit the sport, I knew that my determination allowed me to accomplish one more thing, and that was all that mattered. In everything I do, I know that if I continue to try, no matter how many times it takes, I will eventually be successful. All I have to do to is put my mind to whatever I am trying to accomplish and stay determined. Even as a college student, I use this determination every day. I know that if I can pass the prerequisite classes that I am taking, I can eventually be accepted into the radiology program I’m striving for. All I need to do is stay focused and determined. Thankfully, being a gymnast when I was younger has taught me to stay focused and determined no matter what. In conclusion, gymnastics was a tough and strict sport that took up a lot of time as a child. Although the sport took a lot out of me and even contributed to some of the lifetime injuries that I have, I know that the values I learned will forever stay with me. Not only did gymnastics teach me some really neat tricks, it also taught me how to be dedicated, how to be a team player and how to be determined. Throughout my life after gymnastics, I realized that these lessons have really influenced the way I do things. Hopefully, these values will never be forgotten so that I can lead a successful college and professional career. I know that as long I keep these values in mind and use them to my advantage, I won’t have any issues at all. Even if there are some obstacles along the way, I should be able to stay determined and my goals will be reached.