During my school life I have had many hardships that were difficult for me to handle in addition to school. One main hardship was the passing of my grandfather. It took a huge toll on my mental as well as my physical health. I stopped doing my homework and I did not focus on working out for a while. My grandfather was a huge part of my life. The day I found out about his death, I could not even process it. When I did go back to school the following days, I could not get myself to do any work. The result of that was me being sent to the dean’s office. However, the dean was more understanding of my situation unlike my teacher. The dean sent me back to class while he was talking to my teacher on the phone. Still, I did not have the mindset capability to do my work. The thought of my grandfather being gone was hurting me inside strongly. Lunch finally started and my teacher asked me to stay after class. I didn’t want to stay so, I just left the classroom. During this time it was hard for such a devastating event like this to pass for me. I took a lot self work in order to get my self back together.
It took me a couple weeks for my grief to fade and then I slowly got back into my daily routine. In the first week, I started to go to the gym again and that helped me to avoid thinking about the grief but rather focus on my muscles. Even while this helped me, I still did not want to do anything else including going to school. Although I still had to go to school, I did not do work at all. I kept on being consistent with the gym and it has helped me a tremendous amount. After a couple weeks I started to do my work in school and my homework. During this time, I have discovered that the gym has been my safe space. The gym has helped me out of the grief stage and has helped me mentally and physically. It has boosted my confidence and it has helped me meet new people in my life that have opened me to new opportunities in life.
This is good. This is truly a time when you needed to be resilient in order to carry on in your school life, and all parts of your life. Dealing with grief can be paralyzing an it can get in the way of staying on task at school. Finding that the gym is a “safe place” is a good solution.
I see an arc (structure with beginning middle end) to this story. A good idea would be to make an outline to guide you as your write this story, if you plan to go forward with this writing prompt. Think of scenes to create theatre of the mind for your reader. Remember how Malcolm X SHOWED us his scene of reading on the floor of his cell with the corrider light shining in between the guard’s night watch.
A good way to start out your writing would be to describe this day. Just jump into it. SO —
The day I found out about my grandfather’s death, I could not even process it. THEN — Set the scene, WHERE and WHAT were you doing when you got the news? WHAT did you do upon first hearing?
Next par: You say you missed school — How many days had you missed? Then describe the scene for you when you went back to school.
At school…in Mr/Ms teacher-who-was-not-sympathetic’s class…WHAT happened that got you sent to the office
In the Dean’s office
At the gym…