Douglass and Resilience – Anthony Clement

“The
 silver
 trump
 of
 freedom
 had
 roused
 my
 soul
 to
 eternal
 wakefulness. Freedom
 now 
appeared, 
to 
disappear 
no
 more 
forever. 
It 
was 
heard 
in
 every
sound, 
and
 seen 
in 
every
thing. 
It 
was
 ever
 present
 to 
torment
 me
 with
 a 
sense
 of
 my
 wretched 
condition. 
I
 saw 
nothing
 without
 seeing
 it,
 I
 heard
 nothing
without
 hearing 
it,
 and
 felt
 nothing 
without 
feeling
 it. 
It 
looked
 from
 every 
star,
it
 smiled 
in 
every
 calm,
 breathed 
in 
every 
wind,
 and
 moved
 in 
every
 storm”.(Paragraph 7)

Part A: –

Upon gaining knowledge, specifically the knowledge provided by Sheridan’s speeches, Douglass felt as though that knowledge was a curse. Though he knew of the freedom that was possible he could not obtain it. He felt he was constantly reminded just how impossible that freedom was. The thought of that freedom was constantly alive in his mind, his soul was “eternally wakeful” so he could no longer be blind to how despairing his situation was. Now that he had learned and thought of that freedom it was all he could think about.

Part B: –

Procrastination been a difficulty for me since middle school. I constantly used the phrase “I can do this later” or try to justify my procrastination by calculating how long it would take me to do an assignment and beginning the assignment just with that amount of time left. This procrastination lead to missing assignments, many missing assignments, even though I had those missing assignments I continued to procrastinate thinking that I still had until the end of a semester to turn those in. While that has worked so far my grades were still severely impacted and I feel as a result they do not reflect the kind of student I am.

I wouldn’t say I have a coping strategy to solve my issues with procrastination, however I have begun holding myself accountable. While I still begin my assignments on the due date I begin as soon as possible trying not to waste any time. I also try not to do things if done in the past such as step away from my work for long periods of time to do things that do not need to be done in that moment. So I believe that I increase my resilience my changing myself and fixing my actions so that what I have before will not cross my mind to be done again.