Having to Change

The summer before I went to the Mount, I was looking forward to playing soccer in the fall for my new high school and then in the spring playing softball. My whole grade school life revolved around my sports teams. I was looking forward to making many new friends on the team and being part of a new community. My shoulder had started bothering me in 6th grade, but I didn’t really think much about it. I saw many orthopedic doctors over the next three years, but nothing was really being done and I was still playing sports. In the middle of the summer before Mount, my doctor at the time told me that I would need to have shoulder surgery to fix the pain I was having. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to play sports again. Sports were my life and I didn’t think that I would ever be able to live without them. I went ahead and had the surgery. My shoulder felt fine for a few months, but when I started playing sports again, the pain came back. This time it was even worse. I couldn’t even throw a ball correctly. I knew that my sports career was sadly over. Although I did have another shoulder surgery to try and fix the problem, I had a feeling that I would never be the same. I came to realize that I would need to take a positive out of this life changing experience. Because of the process that I went through with the surgery, I now know that I want to be an orthopedic doctor. I never want anyone to have something that they love so much taken away. I learned that out of a bad situation, comes a growing experience. My identity has been changed, but definitely for the better.