Adversity Essay

[vrazzles]

I'm interested in discussing my Peace Corps experience (adjusting to a new language/culture, trying to integrate into an education system very different from the American one, isolation, etc).

I have seen it said that adversity essays should address prolonged periods of challenge and adversity, and many people write about challenges that lasted extended periods during their younger lives. Many of these challenges were completely out of the control of the writer.

I suppose my question then is: is it ok to write an adversity essay about something like Peace Corps even though I made the choice to join, knowing quite well that adversity would come with it?

I tend to have a very "get over it and deal with it" kind of attitude towards myself, so writing about personal adversity doesn't come easy to me.

@Goro @LizzyM @gonnif

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[LizzyM]

I do think that the point of these essays is not to say that you experienced hardship, but that you had the resilience to bounce back from whatever challenges you have faced, whether they were challenges you chose (like Peace Corps) or those thrust upon you (like a natural disaster).

 

[vrazzles]

@LizzyM @gonnif

Thank you both for your help.

I plan on writing about my struggles integrating into a very conservative, patriarchal culture in which heavy corporal punishment (child abuse in my mind) is used in schools as a method of punishing misbehavior and low academic performance.

One of my responses to this adversity was to throw myself entirely into my language study, resulting in drastic improvements. This has allowed me the communication skills to discuss practices that I disagree with and has helped me to come to terms with them as cultural relics and not a sign that one is a bad person. I think this shows perseverance and refusal to give up or take the easy way out in the face of adversity.

Another has been to throw myself more into my hobbies by exercising more and working on my writing. I believe this demonstrates healthy methods of coping with stress.

Finally, I have been talking to my family and friends a lot more and have made a lot of friends with local villagers. This shows that I know how to utilize available resources and actively try to help myself, when it would be so easy (and tempting sometimes) to just shut myself in my house and binge Westworld.

Would something like this be ok?