This I Believe

I believe in self-determination. You cannot survive in this world without it. I know I could not accomplish anything if I did not motivate myself. It is always possible to have other people push you. However, when it really comes down to it, all that matters, is how determined you are to accomplish that goal. When you have self-determination, it boosts your self-confidence, makes you responsible, and it teaches you how to work hard. Who wouldn’t want that?

I, myself, know that to achieve goals, it is essential to be self-determined. I have been swimming since I was nine, which is roughly eight years. In those eight years, I have become an amazing swimmer. I set goals for myself throughout all these years and pushed myself to achieve them all. This has ultimately made me very confident in my swimming abilities. I am now confident to say that I could beat most anyone in the pool. I created my own goals and motivated myself to accomplish all of them. Having self-determination makes you proud of yourself and what you accomplished which ultimately make you confident in what you can do.

You also become responsible when you are self-determined. Along the way, I have had about seven different coaches, my parents, and many close teammates that have pushed me to work as hard as possible and to become the best swimmer that I could be. I had to do the work for myself though. They could not do it for me. I had to become responsible in making sure I got up for the morning practices that started at 5 and the three hour ones after school five days a week. We can’t forget the Saturday morning ones too. I easily could have stayed home and slept, or gone out with my friends. Instead of that, I choose to be responsible and go to every practice.

Self-determination has also taught me what hard work is, and how amazing it feels. In my opinion, swimming is one of the hardest sports out there. In most sports, you are at least able to breathe the whole time. During swimming, that really is not possible. I get the feeling many of times during practice that I should just stop and rest, or slow down during this set. However, my determination to be the best motivates me to keep going. After every practice, I just get that feeling of accomplishment, knowing I did my best. If I didn’t have self-determination, I know I would never have worked as hard as I have throughout the years.

I can see how people can get through life without being self-motivated. Then again I am sure those people do not have much self-confidence, responsibility, and I am sure they are not hard workers. Therefore, I do not know what kind of life that is. I am very proud to say that I am self-determined which has made me an amazing swimmer, and taught me many life lessons. I am living the life I want to live and doing what I want to do because of my self-determination.