<p>Hi, my application is due tomorrow and I need feedback on my essay! I am not sure which prompt this answer's to more, but I think it can go for either one. Please give feedback on the essay and tell me which prompt you think it goes along with more. Thanks!!</p>
<p>Our test was to run to the edge of the cliff and jump without stopping. One by one, the others sprinted and halted at the edge, too afraid to continue. I ran the fastest I ever have in my life. I was the first one to jump.
My fathers story from the Israeli Army had me considering the meaning of courage early in life. He raised me to know that I will be whoever I believe I am. If I want to succeed, I have to believe that I am capable of doing so through persistence and motivation. There are always moments in which I doubt myself, thinking that my fears will get the best of me. Though after revisiting my fathers story I realize that everyone, including my father, possesses fears. However some allow fear to repress them and others persist in creating a life without regrets.
I am competitive by nature and strive to be as courageous as my father; and believe me, I have plenty of fears to conquer: performance mishaps, subway collisions, tickling, cockroaches, plane crashes, kidnapping, and failed infrastructure to name just a few. Thinking of these things, I often become jittery, my feet tapping relentlessly, stomach twisting and heart beating like a soldiers drum (ba ba ba ba). Instead of calling this sensation anxiety, however, I am keen on calling it an opportunity for courage. Being courageous means facing my fears, not simply being fearless. My father was afraid but he jumped off that cliff.
My father told me his cliff-jumping story the summer before senior year. On the first day of school I was to perform a monologue in front of the entire Drama Department, on an unfamiliar stage, knowing all eyes would be judging. Despite recognizing that scarier events were happening simultaneously around the universe, I still found mine terrifying! Before walking onto the huge, black stage I convinced myself to face whatever fear of failure I was fixating on. My legs quivered as I walked down the stairs. But as soon as I stepped into character, I felt free
The words and phrases poured out as if they were truly my reality. Worries ceased to exist. When I finished
snap! A surge of adrenaline enveloped me. I realized that this surge, after facing a fear, is what I desire to experience until death. Regardless of the audiences possible judgments of my performance, I was proud of myself for persisting with courage.
Fear has failed to stop me when I have auditioned for lead male roles, no matter how many people bullied me about it. Fear has failed to stop me from boarding a Boeing 737 despite the malfunction statistics. Fear has failed to stop me from performing on the Concert Hall stage in front of thousands. Fear motivates me. It makes me want to learn how to fly that plane, or conquer the impossible. It fuels my ambitions to give a speech on a campaign podium, to argue in court, to act in front of a camera, or to sing my songs before a wild audience. But most of all courage inspires me to be happy with myself, because I know that I am so much more than my fears. And so I will not stop at the edge of that cliff. Like my father, I will be the one who leaps.</p>