Tantalized by the sight of the finish line, my legs kicked into high gear as I reached the end of my first Sprint Triathlon to the cheers of onlookers on a hot August morning. Almost a year of training had finally culminated in two exhausting hours of swimming, biking, and running. Even though I competitively ran cross country for seven years, my nerves about this day somehow handily surpassed the nerves about any race I had run during those years. For all the months leading up to the event, I was consumed by a nauseating anxiety that I would fail to complete one of the legs of the race and have to forfeit. Yet I was no longer competing for my school’s team; it did not objectively matter how I fared in the race to anyone but myself. However, the growth I underwent to stand confidently on the morning of the race and accomplish this milestone has a far greater worth than any medal or trophy.

Nine months prior to the race, I could barely swim one length of a pool, capable only of a survival-mode tread. As a child I churned through every swim instructor at my local pool, none of whom ended up succeeding in teaching me a proper freestyle stroke. When I returned home to Naperville after my graduation in December 2022, I was driven back to finish the work of those instructors. Wanting to apply myself to a genuine challenge, I committed to train for a triathlon given my lifelong aversion to swimming. My mom, an avid swimmer since childhood, patiently worked with me through the roadblocks of how to breathe properly and build up stamina for longer swims. The initial physical frustrations eventually gave way to aggressive jitters about the race itself— the fear that my heart would beat too fast and that my breath would escape me consumed my thoughts. In the face of every hurdle, she helped me dispel any doubt that I would not reach the triathlon swim distance of 375 meters. After about six months of incremental improvement, I went from struggling with 25 meters to regularly swimming a full mile.

My training ramped up when I returned to Baltimore to begin my new job at the Office of the Public Defender (OPD) in the Felony Division. Although I highly enjoyed my summer internship and was enthusiastic to continue working there, the gravity of the job seemed out of my depth. In my volunteer work at various shelters throughout college, my and the clients’ worlds intersected only for a few hours per week. I subsequently developed an ambition to contribute more wholly to advancing justice and equity in the city. Working at the OPD has further illuminated the dimensions of advocacy that require an even deeper level of trust and understanding necessary to pursue this work as a livelihood. This was never more apparent to me than when I sat alongside an attorney who, when she left the courtroom following her client’s guilty plea, consoled her client’s grieving family and discussed his sentencing hearing that would follow, where he later received the maximum sentence allowed by the plea.

The flexibility, tact, and empathy the attorney exhibited in her representation both inside and outside of the courtroom floored and inspired me. Sitting in the courtroom and hearing his sentence, my breath escaped me like it once had in the pool. It was clear that neither academic knowledge of the law nor a volunteer background would suffice in enduring repeated devastation and still needing to maintain my composure like she had. But just as in my triathlon training, I feel empowered to forgo what is comfortable and familiar in entering the legal practice through affirmation from my network of support. Through emotionally difficult cases and through technical considerations of how to employ the right case law or elicit the most beneficial testimony, the OPD’s attorneys have given me many opportunities for contemplating my own sensibilities as a future lawyer. In combination with the lessons learned in my years of volunteering and community engagement, I am piecing together the principles that will best contribute to my ultimate goal of being in service to others.

I am now ready to embrace the new challenge of law school, this time with more resilience and an even stronger desire to excel. Having transformed moments of discomfort and defeat into fruitful strides, I am prepared to walk alongside clients in pursuit of their proper treatment and outcomes despite any obstacles. As a lawyer, I aim to bring the holistic perspective that has informed my volunteer work and employment to any clientele I serve. To become the most effective and tenacious advocate possible, I seek an environment where I can engage with people, places and ideas that will push me to think critically and contribute meaningfully. I eagerly await the chance to add a new node of fellow devoted students to my support network, hoping that we can be vulnerable about our lived struggles and assist one another in realizing our potential. At Harvard Law School, I know I will find the tools to continue my lifelong work in progress, steered by my determination and buttressed by those who surround me.

From Nerves to Triumph: How Conquering a Triathlon Shaped My Resilience for Law School

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