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Personality development
Personality development
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Defining Moment When thinking of a defining moment, most people think of happiness or a once in a lifetime type of scenery. My defining moment transpired August 2, 2007, this is the day my grandmother made her transition to her heavenly home. Many days I would relive this day and the moments leading up to her life transition. Although I wanted my grandmother to remain at her earthly home in my presence, God had an assignment for her in his heavenly home. So, I’m left with memories of her beautiful face, sweet voice, and everyday values that she instilled in me during my adolescent’s years.
In the year of 2004, my grandmother was diagnosed with Lung Cancer. My first thought was “My grandmother is going to die,” although, that was not the result I anticipated. It was merely a hasty thought that intersected my mind. Based on the information from the doctor, I wasn’t sure on the amount of time I would have left to share with my grandmother. During this time, I knew that I would have to cherish each moment to a greater magnitude. Oftentimes, daily events of life
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She began to suffer from hair and weight loss as well as the color change of her skin. My mind began to intersect with thoughts of her dying from cancer. I decided negativity would no longer control my thoughts; I had a grandmother who needed me to be strong and think positive about her condition, regardless of the situation and her physical changes. During the time of my grandmother chemotherapy treatments, I would miss school to attend her appointments. As a sophomore in high school, I could only miss a small amount of days before any negative effects displayed toward my grades. Therefore, I would miss school every Tuesday and Thursday for the next four months of my first semester of tenth grade. I didn’t mind because my grandmother meant the world to me and I would have done it a thousand times, if I was given the
Final Gifts, written by hospice care workers, Maggie Callanan and Patricia Kelly, includes various stories detailing each of their life changing experiences that they encountered with their patients. Hospice care allows the patient to feel comfortable in their final days or months before they move on to their next life. This book contains the information considered necessary to understand and deal with the awareness, needs, and interactions of those who are dying. Not only are there stories told throughout the book, there are also tips for one to help cope with knowing someone is dying and how to make their death a peaceful experience for everyone involved. It is important that everyone involved is at as much peace as the person dying in the
Death is sometimes considered unthinkable. People do not wish to think of loved ones dying. When someone close to us dies we are over come with sadness. We wish we had more time with them. Their death shows us the importance of that person’s role in our lives. We begin to think of how we will live our lives without them. We think of all the moments we shared with them, they live again in our memories. Perhaps death is considered unthinkable because we fe...
Sadly, life is a terminal illness, and dying is a natural part of life. Deits pulls no punches as he introduces the topic of grief with the reminder that life’s not fair. This is a concept that most of us come to understand early in life, but when we’re confronted by great loss directly, this lesson is easily forgotten. Deits compassionately acknowledges that grief hurts and that to deny the pain is to postpone the inevitable. He continues that loss and grief can be big or small and that the period of mourning afterward can be an unknowable factor early on. This early assessment of grief reminded me of Prochaska and DiClemente’s stages of change, and how the process of change generally follows a specific path.
During the winter of my sophomore year of high school my aunt, whom I am very close with, was diagnosed with stage three ovarian and cervical cancer. She underwent various surgeries and chemotherapy treatments, spent weeks in the hospital, and many more weeks battling the effects of the chemotherapy from home.
t was a sunny Friday morning when the news arrived. The perfect weather was an ironic slap to the face as we endured one of the worst days of our lives. A shrill ring from the phone grabbed the attention of all of us. The image of my mother’s face is burned into my memory forever. As she hung up the phone, I already knew the news was not what we had expected. She burst into tears as my father held her, tears falling from his own eyes. That day she was diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ, a form of breast cancer. That day was her 50th birthday.
As I grow older, I will attempt to create a life that I can look back on and think, “That was a life worth living.” Recently, my boyfriend’s grandfather passed away. He knew that his last day was near, but he kept saying that he was not sad, for he had lived a long full life (Matthew Morel, personal communication, February 2016). Contrarily, my grandmother, who is still living today, is obviously in a state of
Her warm smile, caring nature, and outgoing attitude would never make you think that she has been fighting against chronic illness for over two decades. In school she acts as a mentor helping other students, and oftentimes the only time that her illness comes up in conversation is when classmates go out together and eat, because Cindy can only eat certain foods. Although she never lets her diseases rule her life, and always remains positive, she recalls the person she used to be, someone with energy and drive, in her mind she is still that same person, but that isn’t who she gets to be anymore. She doesn’t talk much about her childhood, only alluding that it wasn’t the most positive one. Before her diagnosis she recalls being scared to death, having anxiety because she was sure her diagnosis would be cancer, and knowing that there was no way she could die because she couldn’t stand the thought of leaving her daughter behind. Cindy began to feel as if she was in denial. Every day she had so little energy that even getting out of bed and to the bathroom in the morning sapped most of her energy. Meanwhile she had to still take care of her nine month old daughter because her husband refused to stay home and help. Her daily struggle with energy, joint pain, and malnourishment continued on until her daughter was three. Since she was so sure her symptoms were the
As a University student now looking back on the past, all the trials and hardships, my grandmother passing was not all dreadful. In fact, this dreadful event actually opened up my eyes for me to reach my highest peak. It has taught me to be strong and proactive. In addition, it taught me that I should get all I can while I am alive and do not take anything, such as education, for granted.
A Moment’s Hesitation Sometimes, people don’t stop to consider how dangerous a world they actually live in. One single moment can have any number of outcomes. Driving down the road, near the end of my thirteenth winter, a single instant changed the way I saw life forever. ‘Twas the night before Valentine’s, and all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse –
Although, her mind was committed to fighting the cancer, her body was fragile and the doctors sent her to our house on hospice care to live out her final days with her family by her side. As I stood by her hospital bed that now replaced the sofa in our living room, I remembered specifically a day after school when we were getting a special treat at Cherry on Top. I recalled piling on the chocolate brownies and syrup on my melting vanilla yogurt and my grandmother telling me, “Good, better, best, never let it rest, til’ your good is better, and your better is best”. To this day I apply her thinking through my academics and sports. She firmly believed in me and wanted me to do my best at whatever it was that I set out to do.
Everyone has a defining moment in their lifetime that reveals who they are as a person and how they fit into this strange puzzle we call life. This moment could be an engaging art class that ignites a passion for design and encourages them to begin a path towards art school. For another it may be a childhood sports camp that awakened an adoration for a certain sport. My defining moment occurred one night in my room as I was discreetly watching Netflix on my iPod touch. More specifically, I was watching American Horror Story: Murder House.
Have you ever experienced a defining moment in your life? A moment where the impossible for once, feels possible? A moment in which you can visualize where you are, where you've been, and where you're going next? Such a moment is what changed my life for the better. A moment that separated me from everyone else.
A couple weeks ago my father, whose leukemia had been in remission, found out it was back and spreading rapidly. He died just three days later. The memories of my father are few because he was never there for me as a child, or during most of my adult life. When his preacher asked for old pictures and good memories, I had nothing to share. My father was a very selfish man in his younger days. His current family has many happy memories and pictures of him, because he finally got his life together. This death made me realize there is no promise of tomorrow. We tend to run around, focusing on what we need or desire to do, and neglect the things that should really matter. My father’s passing, made me reflect on my priorities. While contemplating
At the age of 36, mom decided to return to college to obtain her nursing degree. This wasn’t a hard decision for her to make. In April before she enrolled in school, my great grandmother passed away. This major dilemma played a major role in mom’s return to school. She had taken care of my great grandmother for months before she passed away, and decided that she wanted to make an impact on the lives of geriatrics.
It was June 6, 2011. I remember taking my mother to the County Hospital’s emergency room. She seemed extremely exhausted; her eyes were half-closed and yellow, and she placed her elbow on the armchair, resting her head on her palm. I remember it was crowded and the wait was long, so she wanted to leave. I was the only one there with her, but I did not allow her to convince me to take her home. I told her in Spanish, “Mom, let’s wait so that we can get this over with and know what’s going on with you. You’ll see everything is okay, and we’ll go home later on.” I wish then and now that would have been the case. Unfortunately, she was diagnosed with colon cancer that had spread to many parts of her body including her lungs and kidneys. The doctor said to me not considering that I was a minor and my mother’s daughter, “Her disease is very advanced and we don’t think she will live longer than a year.” With this devastating news, I did not know what to do. I thought to myself that perhaps I should cry, or try to forget and take care of her as best I could and make her laugh to ease her pain.