I am an avid reader and enjoy selecting books which interest me outside of my required school reading. I found the book Resilience, by Eric Greitens, to be inspiring, captivating and relatable to many experiences in my own life. The book explores the virtue of resilience, its importance in life and why many people possess it, while others do not. Eric Greitens uses examples of hardships experienced by veterans to illustrate how situations which could be seen as negative are overcome through positivity and the process of achieving resiliency. Greitens explains that resiliency is a virtue which enables people to move through hardships making them better. Resilience does not come naturally to most people, so this virtue is developed through self reflection, practice, confidence and patience. Greiten’s message that most spoke to me, was that the road to greatness comes from intentionally putting yourself in situations that force you to challenge yourself and step outside of your comfort zone.
The United States Coast Guard Academy simply accomplishes that very message, forcing you to challenge yourself in ways you might have not thought possible and step way outside your comfort zone. The Academy honestly forces you to become the best possible version of yourself during SWAB summer, other training environments throughout the Academic year, as well as other training summer experiences. Being able to accomplish all these tasks makes you feel proud to be where you are, following a higher calling of service, and attempting to become the best version of yourself.
