Mind>Matter by Anika

Mind>Matter by Anika - January 2026 Scholarship Essay

As the younger sibling of two stellar wrestlers, I've always put an immense amount of pressure onto myself to uphold the standard that they have set for me. Unfortunately, during my sophomore year of high school, less than 30 seconds into my first match at the state tournament, I posted my arm out wrong and tore my UCL, shattering the bottom of my humerus.

I remember the long, hard seconds between when the referee stopped the match and when the athletic trainer finally reached me, screaming and bawling my eyes out on the mat. This was not my first major injury, but it was the worst pain I'd ever experienced, both physically and emotionally. I was the state 1-seed. I had worked so hard all season, and my shot at a state title was gone in an instant. But even as the trainer was running quick tests on my arm, and my coach was trying to calm me down, I still felt an immense amount of pressure to keep wrestling. The chances of me winning were slim, but I had to keep pushing. When I was finally asked if I would like to keep competing, I said yes. My arm was burning, I couldn't bend it, and I had lost my grip, but I was desperate to show I wasn't a quitter.

As I stepped back onto the line, arm wrapped up and tears dry, I knew I had more strength than thought. Not physical. Mental. Mental toughness is always mentioned as the biggest part of wrestling because of how unforgiving a sport it is. I ended up wrestling for another 3 and a half minutes before my coach pulled me out of the match and as heartbreaking as it was to give that match up, the loss and injury helped me gain a mental toughness that I believe has helped me in many aspects of life.

From job rejections to poor test grades, this mental toughness has exposed what I should and should not let affect me. Before tearing my UCL, I freaked out over the smallest of things. I was out with a knee injury early in my freshman year, so I was always on edge about getting injured again. I'd freak out over the smallest bumps and bruises out of fear of having my season cut short. When my biggest fear at the time came true, I realized I had no jurisdiction on whether I got injured or not. There was no point in freaking out over something out of my control. I think in some odd way, I’m grateful for this injury because of the changes it has helped me make in my life.

Understanding that worrying about something I can’t control isn’t going to change the outcome has majorly affected how I act in my day-to-day life. I can now better differentiate what I should and should not put my energy and attention towards. I no longer get worked up over whether or not I’ll be hired after a job interview because I can no longer control the outcome. I try my best to not stress before a test because I know that I’ve put in all the effort I can to understand and test well on the information. As horrific as tearing my UCL and breaking my arm was, I still try finding good in every situation, and I therefore believe I found the good in this one.