I believe that whatever challenge or setback that you may have, should influence you to think about ways that you can take your situation and make your life the best life possible. When faced with a challenge or setback, you may often tend to dwell on it and really think of the worst possible scenario but, all that does is make you upset and closed-minded. Instead what you should think about doing is “challenging the challenge”. Ask yourself, how can I use this challenge to the best of my ability? The key to this is remembering that it might not always be easy and sometimes you’ll want to give up. But like every clichè piece of writing says, never give up. There is a huge amount of truth to that because the more that we give up on things, the less we’ll accomplish.

My example is my disability. I know many people with disabilities. Some of them are strong-willed, independent, and fearless. But some of them, unfortunately, fixate and wonder why it had to be them. I try to think about how different my life would be and think about how many opportunities I’ve gotten because of it. This, in turn, makes me happy because I realize that even though I have this challenge people have recognized me for qualities like resilience and perseverance, such qualities that I don’t know would have been as dominant if I wasn’t faced with this challenge.

It’s important to remember that even though you may be facing a challenge, that you don’t let it define who you are. Though it is something that people may see, don’t let them think that’s all you are. Make them see your true personality, and if they don’t see that then they’re not worth seeing who you truly are.

The first step to living a fulfilling life with your challenge is accepting it. Do not settle for anything less than what you want. Hopelessness can come with the untrue philosophy that certain people are made to do certain things and if you aren’t one of those people, you can’t do it at all. I believe that anyone can do anything. Take dancing as an example. I wanted to dance so guess what I did? I danced. Yes, there were people in my life that questioned how I could be a dancer and even people who questioned my mental state for saying that I was a dancer. I think that the more you believe the judgments said about us, the more we justify what they’re saying. We do not want to justify them, but deep down inside sometimes we agree with what they’re saying. Fight that belief, make it known to yourself and to others that you will do what you want to do. There are extraordinary people that share this belief with you and some have made their beliefs a reality. There are people out there that believe in you and want you to succeed. There is always a way to do what you would like to, you just have to find the right people to do it with. Once you have accepted your challenge and once you have accepted that people’s words do not change anything about you, you may take steps to achieve your dreams. Along your journey, you may have the realization that not only can you show people what you can do, you can also change people’s minds about what you do.

When I was 13, I wanted to be in the pre-professional program at my dance studio. It wasn’t that anybody didn’t believe that I could be in the program, it was that no one knew it was possible. No one had done it before. I wanted to be the first one and to be the first one I had to initiate it myself.

Sometimes you have to step out of your comfort zone and share your ideas because there might be someone who has the exact same ideas as you, but is scared because they don’t know if people will take interest in them.

Overall I conclude, that challenges aren’t always bad. Achieve what you want, share your ideas, and never settle for less. I believe that you can make your life extraordinary just by taking one step, and that step is believing you can.