this is in response to the uc Prompt 2: Tell us about a personal quality, talent, accomplishment, contribution or experience that is important to you. What about this quality or accomplishment makes you proud and how does it relate to the person you are?
it only has 344 because my other essay had 644 words. any help is appreciated. thank you!
The first time I strolled through the automatic doors leading to the grand living room a sense calmness fell over me. I assumed that my time here would be spent in boredom and leisure because I thought - wrongly- that little help would be needed in a senior care facility. After all, aren't most of the elderly limited to their beds, or at the most their room?
The three years I spent volunteering there proved otherwise.
After a introduction with the activities director I was assigned to observe with a senior volunteer. The second time I visited I was immediately assigned to read bingo cards aloud to the seniors who were playing. As easy as that may sound, after that single activity my throat was stripped and sore because not only do I have to read the letters and numbers out extremely loud, but I also have to repeat it several time for the hearing impaired. Each task after that became even more difficult, and it is not uncommon for me to finish one task only to scramble to another part of the facility to start on another.
Though at times gruesome and even irritating, the experience I had at Emeritus had given me some rather valuable skills that allowed me to better myself in interpersonal relationships (which I dearly lacked), and allowed me to gain a new prospective on life outside of my age group. It was while volunteering there that I had a rather profound epiphany: more times than not, the events in life and life its self isn't the cause of unhappiness, but rather it's the individual's perception and reaction that ultimately determines how he or she will be effected by the events. This made me realize that while I should not only cherish the time I have, but also try to engage life - no matter how bad it gets - with a optimistic view. Though easier said than done, I certainly did try to alter my defeatist attitude and replace it with the view of seeing the glass as half full.
