The past year has been a personal quest to dissect and examine various aspects, memories and situations of my life. For a couple years now, prior to starting this Master’s program, I felt that I wasn’t living my best life and that I had some feelings and memories that seemed to be holding me up. The past year has been filled with narrative therapy and lots of healing work. I believe that each of us carriers our own stories filled with triumphs, tribulations, and just mundane events; but that these stories have shaped who we are, how we interact with others, how we form and maintain relationships, and how we cope with change or hard situations. My story, like a lot of others, has some triumphs, tribulations, and a lot of mundane events. I’ll share just a few incidents in my life, which I believe to have greatly contributed to my worldview and the person I am today. …show more content…
Since I was coming from a small private school, I was very intimated by the idea of going to a large high school. I first met with a guidance counselor before I started my first day. He asked me about my previous school and any anxiety I had about my new school. When the halls were mostly empty, he showed me where each of my classrooms were, located my locker (let me practice my locker combination), and showed me the lunch room and gym. After we went back to his office, he asked me what my least favorite class subject was that I had on my calendar and scheduled a check-in session during part of that class period. The time he spent with me during my first quarter was so helpful in my adjustment to my new school. Having an adult treat and talk to me like I had good ideas or meaningful information to share was empowering. His empathy and compassion were particularly meaningful when a friend committed suicide the following
Growing up, life wasn't easy. As a result of these adversities, I've been able to not only see, but personally experience, having a constant battle in my life. Throughout this journey of life, I’ve had the opportunity to meet people and learn about different backgrounds and hardships many others suffer from. These experiences,
Here lies my story in all its roughness and imperfection, and yet, it is not rough or imperfect at all; it is precisely because of roughness and imperfection that I feel I am the quintessential GS student. Ironically, I believe my struggles are the most valuable part of my story, not the success. It is my hope that you have seen through the stained glass window and through my darkness and glimpsed the radiant light that sparkles within.
My parents sensed my troubles and we moved. Adjusting to a new high school took time. It was not easy making new friends and I continued to be lost. These incidents weighed heavily on my mind. My anguished heart refused to see beyond my own woes. A recent disturbing incident changed my purview of life.
When I think back on the many obstacles I have overcome in life, the most challenging would be when my younger brother became a victim of gun violence during my last semester of undergrad at Florida State University. We were both enrolled in school at the time, living over 400 miles away from home. As you can imagine, the pressure of being the first in family to graduate was already high, and on this tragic day I had to juggle being a full-time student with a full-time job, while caring for my brother. There were many times I did not think I would be able to do it all, with our parents so far away and unable to travel to us, I was his only support system. Despite the stress I was feeling, I had to remain strong; not only for my brother, but for my parents who did not think he’d survive.
People tend to take their legs for granted. While the other girls in my school were fawning over the football players’ muscles, or their perfect hair, I was jealous of their legs. Their functional legs. It's pretty crazy to think of a 15-year-old learning how to walk, but that’s exactly where I was. In a gym full of colorful mats and loud children, all I could focus on was the heavy Polish accent of my physical therapist urging me to trust myself. I took three whole steps. I started to get over confident, thinking that I could walk way more than someone who had a three-year gap in their walking practice should. I took four more steps. I looked up at my therapist for reassurance and a slight nod of her head encouraged me to keep going. Left.
While working as a healer, I began picking up on the causes of my client's illness or injuries. I would know things that the client hadn't told me, And often times they themselves hadn't even considered. Once the information had been discussed with the client, the pain from the trauma would go completely away.
This weekend my mom, me, Ann, and Ann's boys are going to minnesota's largest candy store. I can not wait to go because we get so much candy and drinks there. We go there every year and always end up spending more money than we did last year. We also went to the Granite City Speedway it is a dirt track it is so much fun. I always help out there I work on the cars and even get food for the guys. I love to work there even if I do not get payed it is still fun. I work with a racer named Shane Sabraski. We know him because he use to work with my grandpa. We proceed to go to almost every race of his. Shane almost won 12,000 dollars for a big race he was in. Sadly in the last lap the race car behind him passed him, so he only got 5,000 dollars.
Keeping yourself open to growth throughout life opens opportunities and leadership positions, which you wouldn’t have know about otherwise. I have joined many clubs throughout my first two years at Saint Xavier and loved them all. I have joined marine biology club, ski club, and fishing club. I have also joined the community service program special olympics. For my first action step, I will get involved in more clubs, electives, and community services options. I plan on joining the engineering club and looking at many other options at the club fair, as well as returning to my old clubs too. I’m also going to look for new and interesting electives such at anatomy and finance, to narrow down my major for college As I become a junior next year, I look forward to joining the big buddies program and eventually achieving a leadership role within in it. Next year, I will use my classes to break out of my comfort zone to meet new students and teachers. In doing all of this, I hope to find more friends that I can hang out with, so I’m not with the same group everyday.
a bath. Then we watched a little more tv together and then my sister and me started packing a bag full of stuff we can do in the car on the way to Texas. When we finished we went to bed and it is like 9:00 at night. In the morning at 4:30 we woke up and we brush our teeth and got into some comfy close if we wanted to or we can stay in pajamas and my sister and me stayed in our pajamas and our dad and mom got into comfy clothes and we packed are car and got blankets and pillows and we got into the car and we left and it was about 5:00.
I can divide life into two parts: The part before I went to the temple and the part afterwards. I suppose everyone could do that. On September 19, 1998, I went to the temple for my own endowments. I read my journal entry from that time and it did not do justice to what I actually experienced at the temple. I went through so many emotions and had so many questions answered that I had kept to myself.
As a child, when I got upset my response used to cry and refuse to talk. Now a day as adult, I don't cry that often, but I have the patter of maintain salient, so I grow up keeping that behavior with me. The first time I suffered anxiety of separation was when I started school; I do remember those first day clearly. I cried very loud, I got frustrate, and I didn't want to come back to school. This first week was terrible for me, for my mother, and also for my teacher. Fortunately, my teacher was very professional and keep calm. My mother tried to talk to me, and explain that she had to leave, but she come back for me at noon. When I was a child I was not very good at making friend; even though I was a friendly girl, I had to deal with that
It is surprising, but true that motivation for people comes from money, power, and fame. Not quite for me, I was motivated by my loving grandmother. She instilled in me to “Stay Gold”, work hard and be honest always. When you combine those together you can’t put a limit on what you’ll be able to do in life.
Excited. Nervous. Determined. Those three words perfectly describe how I was feeling my first day of college. The enrollment process was rigorous for me, but with the encouragement and support from my boyfriend, I was able to finish submitting the required paperwork by the school's deadline. After all of that was over with, I could finally begin a whole new chapter of my life that I had never visioned for myself. None of my family members have attended college, I was going to be the first one. This means, I was showing up for my first class completely mentally unprepared. I was unaware of what to expect for my first semester at Ocean County College.
Growing up in my family,(mom, dad , brothers) was/ is pretty rough. My dad and oldest brother got into drugs when I was younger, and that made a big impact on me and everyone else. It started with my dad, acting like a dumbass around the family, and my brother somehow followed. My dad, I have no idea when he started using but, my brother started using around seventeen or eight teen. My dad was always mad that he was going to end up like him, so he would try to talk to him but they were both disrespectful and the always ended up fighting.
...erienced. These situations made me who I am today. Life is not simple and easy, as a person you have to learn all aspects of what life happenstances brings you. There are no perfect people in the world, so everyone has to go through situations to realize the decisions you have to make. In my mid-fifties, I have more of a cautious mindset. I know that any decisions I make will either push me forward or bring me down. Human development is about growing, growing into who you are. I still have more to learn as I move into the other stages of my life, but having the knowledge and faith in God I can only more forward and be a better me. This writer’s life still has some good and bad times. Twenty plus years of battling with depression, now stable with medication, but through it all I’ve learned to lean and dependent on who keeps me grounded, which is our Lord and Savior.