The Significance of Driving Safely

While riding my bike
to the convenience store on a dark Tuesday night, I was hit by a car.
Feeling the bike twist under me, I flew and smashed my head into the
windshield, glass shattering and covering the road. After sliding
over the top of the car and hitting the rough pavement behind, I was
taken to the hospital and awoke the next morning blinded by the white
curtains and walls. Although the first few weeks of healing left me
depressed and miserable, I was unprepared for the following months of
struggling with the concussion in regular life.

My concussion was
severe and talking, listening to music, reading and using technology
were too painful to bear. After several phases of therapy, I returned
to school and immediately realized the decline in how quickly I was
able to process things. Before, I made up for any academic issues
with my capacity to pick up information and problem solve. These
talents had been eliminated, and I realized how differently my brain
now worked; I faced every action being impossible. Each task required
tremendous effort to keep up with and finish, and I struggled to pull
through my fast-paced classes.

As well as leaving
marks on my body, the car accident also left marks on my transcript.
When I returned to school after my absence, I strained my eyes under
the bright lights, cowered at the unruly crowds of students and often
could only attend half days. With missing time and my inability to
learn and complete tasks, I earned poor grades and failed both IB SL
Math and IB Chemistry. My classes were already difficult but the
concussion slowed down each one of my processes. I was unable
to keep up with my peers.

This
transformation from being passionate about learning, to frustrated
and angry at myself for my inability to learn at the rate I was
capable of before, led me to the realization of how a human being
really is their brain. Suffering from a concussion permanently
changed how I function and who I am as a person. A malfunctioning
brain means the essence of the human is damaged. From my concussion I
have learned how to be patient with myself. Instead of fighting
against my own brain to regain my abilities from before, I focused on
healing and learning how I could work productively. With patience, I
saw that there is strength in doing things slowly. I will never be
the person I was before the accident, but the person I am now is
awesome and capable. Now that I think and do things slowly, I also do
them more thoroughly. Relationships, essays, and projects are more
meaningful because I spend longer working on them. Thinking slowly
means understanding different aspects of things that aren’t visible
at surface level. My strengths are not in speed anymore but in
thoroughness and diligence.

The summer
following my sophomore year, I registered for an Algebra III course
and waded through hours of math a day. I passed with a 94%. This was
an enormous achievement for me considering I had failed to keep up
with math the previous year. This experience has prepared me to be a
successful college student by teaching me how to deal with
unfortunate circumstances on my own and working with the tools I
have. I discovered that I am a person who likes to fight for things.
I am grateful to have worked hard and struggled so that I could learn
these things about myself. The past two years of healing and growth
will support me as I become an adult and take on the world
head-first. I am hopeful for the future and proud of how far I’ve
come.