Then and Now

The activity that I chose to do was to take a family picture and study it, to see if it is indisputably similar to my life today, and to the person who I’ve become. I picked this picture because this is the last picture I see before I go to bed, and the first thing I see when I wake up. It was taken when I was about 2, making my mom only 18. Being a young mother is probably the hardest thing you’ll ever face in your life, especially having to do it on your own. Immediately, I noticed that my mom has both her arms around me, showing that I was her whole world and that is the same today. I’m my mom’s first born, and I can say without a doubt, that I am still her world. I talk to my mom on the phone at least twice a day, and text her all day, every day. She is my best friend. This picture was taken in our old house. My mom actually ended up renting an apartment after I was born for just us, and we ended up staying there for a while. Being able to support a child, and live on your own and only being 17, shows  how strong and determined my mom was to do what she could for me. Everything in the picture is still the same, my mom loves me more than life itself, and she still does anything she can for me. The only differences in the picture are clearly that my mom and I grew up, I’m now 18 and my mom is 34. We also don’t live in that same house anymore, and I also have a 12 year old sister. Unfortunately, my mom is still raising us by herself, but I wouldn’t want it any other way. My mom continuously shows me what it’s like to be strong, and that is why I’m sitting here writing this. I’m in school to better myself, so that when my mom is old and on her own, I will be able to take care of her the way she took care of me. I’m here to show my mom that she did a great job raising me, and that she led me on the right track because I’m in college and pursuing my career. This exercise really showed me how thankful I am for everything that my mom has done, and reminded me of how much harder I want to push myself to come out on top and accomplish my goals to benefit for me, my mother, and my sister.  

 

Let your faith be stronger than your fears.

Even though I’m only 18, I can honestly say that I’ve faced so many setbacks that I really shouldn’t have any fears. I watched my dad walk out on me and my mom at the age of 3, like it was nothing. I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism when I was 13, and was informed of how my white blood cells were attacking my organs. I lost all feeling and movement in my left leg and spent months on crutches and then was later diagnosed with a pain syndrome at the age of 15. Obviously those are only a few of the many things that I’ve been through and overcame, but for the fact that I’m here, a freshman in college right now is a shock for me, and a huge shock for my family. After missing all the school that I did over the past two years, my teachers, principal, and family had been set on the fact that I was not going to graduate on time. And, that’s where my fears come in. I’m terrified of disappointing my family. Although my family tried to hide it, I could tell that they were extremely disappointed when they heard that I wasn’t going to graduate with my class due to my excessive absences. That honestly hurt me more than anything, so I set my mind to work and I worked my ass off, of course it all paid off in the end, because I did graduate on time but it’s the fact that I had for that moment disappointed my family that really killed me. I’m pushing myself so hard in college because at the end of the day, I want to be able to show my mom, grandma, and grandpa that I will do anything to make them proud. The feeling I get when I know that they’re upset with me is honestly the worst feeling in the world, I don’t even know how to describe it. My other fear would have to be that I’m not going to ever be able to be happy. As long as I have this pain syndrome, and my day to day life is affected because of my pain, I won’t ever truly be happy. And because I know that this pain syndrome is something you’re stuck with for the rest of your life, scares me more than anything.

Campus Safari, Career Services

For this week’s campus safari I visited the Career Services. They’re located on campus and the times are perfect, making them available to all students no matter what their schedule. There hours are, Monday through Friday from 8:30am to 4:30pm. If you are an undecided major, I would definitely recommend you visit the Career Services, they help you chose a major that is perfect for you based on what you like to do and where your strong suits are. They also offer counseling with a professional to help with many things that you’ll need as a college student such as resume writing, career options, job search strategies, and many other career related topics.

"Learn it and Use it for Life"

At first I wasn’t sure what reading The Creative Habit, by Twyla Tharp was going to be like because we definitely have had a different variety of reading assignments. After the first couple pages I realized that I was going to enjoy this book. I think one of the main reasons that I enjoyed this book is because it’s a free writing book, unlike Thriving in College and Mindset. This was Twyla telling her story, and her personal life goals and habits. I also really like the way that she wrote the book, the font was a reasonable size but she did something that other authors haven’t really ever done before. She would write the important words, in bold, usually bigger than the rest of the words on the page, and some in a different color as well. I found chapter two to be really interesting, it was about rituals of preparation. I think this chapter can apply to everyone because we all have our weird rituals when we wake up, and before we go to bed. On page 15, Twyla says, “We all have rituals in our day, whether we’re aware of them or not.” That is completely true because every morning I wake up, take my thyroid pill, eat breakfast, get dressed, do my hair and makeup, brush my teeth and then I’m on my way. Whether or not that’s the order you do that in, we all doing our morning rituals the same everyday which then forms muscle memory, meaning you don’t even have to think about it anymore, you just do it. I also like that throughout the book, there are exercises that you can do to really further your thinking about what she’s trying to prove and show you. That’s also something that many free writing books, don’t include. I think that really makes this book unique.