<p>Hi I will be submitting this essay today and was wondering if anyone could give it a quick overview for any changes I should make to it. Thank you!</p>
<p>During the biweekly ten minutes that is takes to squeeze into the unforgiving material of my wetsuit, my mind wanders to grey matters of the present— the mug of hot chocolate with extra whipped cream I’m going to indulge in after sailing in subzero temperatures— as well as the future— biting the sailing gold medal that I win in the Olympics. I find irony in the parallel between my physical struggle to fit into my wetsuit and my internal struggle to fit into my world of materialism and status.</p>
<pre><code>Throughout my high school career, I’ve tried to fit into this stereotypical life of privilege and outside perfection, yet I’ve never felt inwardly complete. Putting this into context, I reside in one of the richest municipalities of Vancouver- West Vancouver. Wealth oozes out of every corner of this community; pulling up to the student parking lot is always panic-inducing. For example, the anxiety of parking between a Maserati and a Range Rover is overwhelming at eight in the morning. While my friends obsess over upcoming parties, I’m concerned about the wellbeing of my peas growing in the school’s greenhouse. The instigator for diverge from the life I’ve known since a young age? Sailing. When I’m on the water, I’m in a different mindset than on shore. Conforming to the group I have known all of high school left me feeling ostracized and weak. Fortunately, sailing has allowed me to embrace independence and empower myself to create aspirations separate from those of a group. Whether it’s sailing a different course than the other boats during a race, or it’s adding to my vision board of places I’ll one day sail to, the resilience that it takes to be an individual has pushed me to acknowledge the strengths of being a nonconformist.
Within my sailing club there is still value for individuals to succeed while being part of a team. Sailing places an emphasis on community; competitive regattas, family boating excursions, interprovincial banquets, and Olympian sailors who trained at our club are all apart of my newfound community. I find the inspirational and motivational speeches by these Olympian sailors to be invaluable: from lectures on failure to conquering fears to succeeding despite hardships, I’ve found that my educational, travel, and sailing aspirations have been shaped in a concrete way.
Although moving to a new country for university will be daunting, sailing has taught me that I can find a sense of belonging and connection wherever there is a group that shares the same passions as I do. To compete on a varsity sailing team would fulfill my dream of pursuing an education at university whilst further developing my skills as a sailor. Despite living thousands of kilometres from home, the connections that sailing allows me to build with others and nature acts as an anchor. Also, travelling will become a key part of my studies through regattas across America- hopefully these regattas will be held in tropical locations seeing that during Canada’s bone-chilling winters my boat tends to fill with ice. Ultimately, ISAF Youth Worlds is my long-term goal. Annually, World’s, for short, showcases the most skilled young sailors in competitions across the globe. To compete in World’s would be a major milestone for my sailing career: it would pave the path to one day battle for gold in the Olympics.
Watching the blushing sun dip behind the golden ocean and silhouetting mountains from my dinghy creates an unprecedented atmosphere for self-reflection and inner connection. Not only has sailing shaped my life in the present, it has shaped the way I envision my future. While I can’t predict the weather or the future, I look forward to the vast challenges and life experiences that university and sailing have to offer.
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