Always Being One Step Behind

How always being ONE STEP BEHIND has actually HELPED ME find new ways to PROSPER

Have you ever asked yourself what your best quality is? It is a hard question to ask yourself because most people don’t normally like self-reflection nor do they see their qualities as positive. However, today as I was brainstorming a topic to write about, I came upon my answer and it surprised me. The best quality that makes me the person I am today is something I have been ashamed of, even hated at times, and cried about over the past years or so. On the other hand recently, I have begun to see it in the raw beauty that it is. The best thing about me is my learning disability. Yes, that’s right, I said my learning disability. 

For years I have had to push harder. I have had to take double the amount of time to learn things, and have felt more frustration then I ever wish upon anybody. Examples of times that were hardest for me were: Having to study eight hours for a test that everyone else would spend only one hour studying for. Or the many times my reading specialist in elementary school took me out of class because I needed extra help to catch up. Or the constant trying to organize thoughts in my head and writing them out before class so I feel confident enough to participate.

Beginning the Race

I will never forget in the middle of my eighth-grade year. I can recall my mother going into school for the parent- teacher conferences, and it was that moment she walked into my literacy teacher’s classroom when my life began to change. My literacy teacher proceeded to tell my mother how he was giving me a “C” in the class. He explained that it was because I wasn't putting enough work into my writing pieces and how there were numerous mistakes in my writing. My mother knew the time and effort I put into my essays, and that wasn’t the case. After that discouraging meeting, she decided I should get a neuropsychological evaluation done. It turned out to be a Disorder of Written Expression, which makes reading comprehension, retrieval and formulation of information, sentence structure , and language proficiency  unexplainably difficult for me. 

I Can See the Finish Line

Since my diagnosis at the age of thirteen actually changed my negative outlook, into a positive one. It sets me apart from my peers, in my own, unique way. As I began to learn more about how my brain works and discover my strengths in an academic setting, I am able to use those to my advantage in expanding the ways in which I learn. Since I was diagnosed with my learning disability, I see how all the hard work, frustration, and embarrassment has transformed into strength and determination Inside an academic setting and beyond. I used to think I was always one step behind, however now I like to consider myself to be right on time.