Essay Example: Self-Motivational Autobiography

Written for a University Application by Micaela Murphy 30 January 2020

On January 22, 2019, I sat in an uncomfortable, archaic desk chair in a dimly-lit community college classroom thinking about the perspective of Edward A. Murphy Jr. The rather pessimistic man believed that if anything can go wrong, then it absolutely will; his philosophy was coined Murphy’s Law, and unfortunately for my family, we inherited not only the surname Murphy but the curse that Edward attached to it. From car explosions to house floods to evacuating forest fires, my family is no stranger to misfortune.

In my case, our family’s curse manifested itself in the already difficult ritual of finding a purpose in life. When I was younger, I wanted to follow in my grandfather’s footsteps and join the military. I was enamored by the concept of being the hero that swooped in and saved the day, and in love with the feeling I earned from helping others. Unfortunately, it was only after I accepted a scholarship from the Air Force that I learned it wasn’t the right path for me. My naive mindset limited my perspective, and when faced with reality I was unable to withstand it. I gave away my scholarship, and in doing so I gave away the only means of paying for my higher education; I was forced to drop out of the university that I attended, and I returned home to live with my parents, overwhelmed with failure.

The change was so sudden and drastic that it took me a year to crawl out of the dank and decrepit hole in which I had buried myself. That January day, when I first sat in the stiff desk chair and stared at the chalkboard in front of me, was my first day back in the world of the living. I thought about the bad luck that Edward A. Murphy Jr. had so thoughtlessly bestowed upon me; but tired of the self-pity I had subjected myself to, I reminded myself of the progress that earned my place there. Not only had I begun again, but I had returned with a purpose.

Attending my local community college is an experience that I’m certain will never leave me. What the institution lacks in quality, it makes up for in character. Every professor and class that I have taken has either been so incredibly inspirational that it left me breathless, or so insanely absent that it left me baffled. On my first day of classes, my history professor confessed to us that his true passion was writing rock music, and he proceeded to spend the next half hour showing us music videos produced by his favorite bands. The next day, my college algebra professor warned us that she believed that she was on the verge of a stroke. “Don’t worry,” she assured us, “I have an appointment this afternoon, and I’ve only fainted once today.” Contrarily, the philosophy class that I had immediately prior was taught by a professor who was so enthralled by the topic of his course that the lectures he gave mesmerized myself and my classmates.

The diversity of the professors that work at the college is matched only by the students that study there. Every student is there for the same purpose: to improve upon their lives. My classes have been filled with teenage mothers, single parents, recovering and suffering drug addicts, ex-convicts, children cast out from their families, people with a variety of mental or physical disabilities, and nearly every other type of individual with the determination to succeed when others told them they couldn’t. Discussions were filled with incredible stories of hardship and perseverance, and the classes had an environment of unfaltering cooperation; we were there not to compete, but to work together as human beings and lift each other up toward the success we all desperately needed. It was a place of partnership and work ethic, and the genuine demeanor of the setting was a sharp contrast from the experience I had during my limited time at a university.

As time progressed, I sought not only education, but employment. During the summer of 2019, I began working at a small yet bustling senior care facility that a classmate had introduced me to. At the time, I aspired to be a nurse, and the experience was invaluable. For reasons that could have been financial or otherwise, the facility required no certification of any kind to work as one of their “care associates;” I ignored the red flags that this raised, simply thankful for the chance to work in the field I strived to be a part of. As one could imagine, learning the skills required to take care of elderly residents that commonly suffered from dementia, alongside a multitude of other comorbidities, was incredibly difficult. My only other experience was working at the small Dunkin’ Donuts near my old high school, and obviously, my skills with coffee didn’t provide much benefit in my new career. However, I was determined to learn, and no amount of hardship was going to stand in my way; in the months that followed, I went from ridiculed to valued, indistinguishable from even the most experienced of my coworkers.

However, my time working at the facility eventually came to an end. Despite the love I had for the residents I cared for, the work was exhausting and difficult, and the stress began affecting my education. I had learned of a scribe company through a close friend, and soon enough, I had moved from the quiet senior home into a busy pediatric ER located in clustered downtown San Antonio. The physical strain I experienced in my old position was replaced by the mental strain of learning medical terminology, procedures, and systems; it was an entirely new language in its own right. Once again, I was faced with the challenge of perfecting skills I had yet to learn, and once again, I overcame it.

This challenge is one that I am more than familiar with. Just as I have endured it in the past, I know that I will overcome it in the future. Attending a university once again will not be an easy task, but with the growth in maturity I’ve been given in the last few years, I know it is one I am more than capable of conquering. I don’t know how long the road to will take to travel or how difficult the obstacles will be to push through, but what I do know is this: no matter the challenge, I am willing to endure.