You Have to Go Through Hell to Get to Heaven

I believe that every moment in one’s life has an effect on them in some way. Everything we do matters, whether it become something important worth mentioning, or something small, not even worth remembering. Regardless of how significant you think your life has been or how exciting or meaningful it is, what your life today is is a culmination of everything that’s happened in the past. I do believe that everyone has at least one point in their life where who they are changes in some way. For better or worse, everyone has an “About Face.”

For me, it happened in my freshmen year of high school. I had chosen to go to Bishop Ford Central Catholic High School in Brooklyn, New York. That decision in itself was a life changer. My two older brothers had both gone to Xaverian High School so automatically, my family, friends, and relatives had pretty much all expected me to go their because it was “familiar” with us. When it came time to choosing where I was going, I had convinced myself that I didn’t want to go where my brothers went. I didn’t want to be known as “Little Ross” throughout my high school years. All the teachers in my elementary school knew my brothers before they knew me so I always felt a little pressure to live up to the standards that they had set. I didn’t want to feel that pressure in high school. So in the end, I thought it would be best to go to Bishop Ford.

My freshmen year in Bishop Ford was without a doubt the most stressful, challenging time of my life. I had pretty much gone to school with the same 30 people from grades K to 8th grade so now everything was different. I was this little kid surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of people that I had never seen before and I honestly didn’t know how to handle it. Everything was a struggle for me. I was so used to knowing everyone and knowing all the work, that this was all just a shock to me. Nothing came easy to me my freshmen year. My days consisted of waking up, going to class, going to football practice, and coming home to sleep… Many times without even eating dinner or telling my parents I was home. I was rarely happy during that time. I think it was just that the whole “high school” experience was very overwhelming and it took me pretty much the whole year to eventually be comfortable with school.

I think that year of high school, although it was the hardest and most miserable time of my life, changed my life forever, for the better. The next three years at Bishop Ford were an unbelievable experience for me. I can honestly say school went from being the worst time of my life to the best time of my life. I have never been happier than I was for those last three years of high school… And I think I can attribute that to all the challenging experiences I had during that first year. My freshmen year changed me socially, physically, and emotionally. From this roller coaster ride of an experience, I now believe it’s true that you “have to go through hell before you get to heaven.”