Overcoming Obstacles

Overcoming these obstacles has made me a mature and strong individual. I am proud of what I have accomplished, even with the hardships that I have had to face and my biggest goal is to make my parents proud.

I have overcome lots of obstacles in my life. They weren't the easiest to overcome, but I did it. There is one obstacle I had to go through which made me a strong individual mentally and physically. I lived in New Jersey for my entire life. I grew up there, I had all of my family and friends in Jersey. I was sure my future was going to rely in Jersey. During 7th grade, I got the news that we were going to move to North Carolina. I was thrilled to move to another state. As each day passed, I thought how I would have to start in a new school and make new friends. Every time it struck me knowing that I would have to start a new life. I was nervous not knowing what would happen to my future. I wanted to stay in New Jersey because I was scared of

What is your story? What kind of challenges did you overcome? There are things that happened to me that not many people really know about, I was abused by my older sister when I was a young child. But that didn’t make me a bad person, it made me a better one. I treat people with respect and kindness, I help my family with the things they need, and I take care of my brother. I still always make time for myself, to draw, to write, for anything really. But I wouldn’t be the same person I am today if these things didn’t happen.

In my culture, society looks down at mental illness and when news of mental illness gets out in the society, one’s reputation is pretty much destroyed. My elder brother, Imran, was misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder when he was a teenager. My family was still living in Bangladesh at the time and my brother’s illness was treated as a secret by my parents. My parents went above and beyond to hide my brother’s illness because we come from a culture that is quick to condemn parents for their children being abnormal, my family felt very protective of the fact that we had mental illness in our family. Family visitation and guests in our home were strictly monitored by my mother and my siblings and I were coached to make excuses for my brother. My brother’s illness shaped me as a person because I realized that I needed to be able to overcome the obstacles life throws in my way in order to take care of my family.

Phillip stated his best part about college is being able to learn, having professors who actually care and being in organizations that are made to help minorities succeed.

The most significant challenge I’ve faced is losing my dad to leukemia in 2012. Many complications followed, such as losing legal guardianship from my mom, which required my four sisters and I to take care of ourselves. My dad was an anchor for the family and tried to provide the best he could. Although his passing tore my family apart, my academics never ceased. I recognized myself as a disciplined individual who never gave up because I know my dad would not expect that. He made sure our homework was done, the house was clean, and our grades were maintained in order to go out. He raised my sisters and me to never settle for less and to push above our expectations. My dad always reminded us that we could accomplish anything we wanted with determination.

Growing up I lived with my mother, father, and siblings. Around the age 15 my mother and father separated. I have always been the person who set goals for myself. I had support from my family and friends with everything that i did. I had a pretty close relationship with my siblings growing up even though we were all very different. I played basketball from 3rd grade up until 10th grade and after high school, decided to go away to college.

No one has really did through what i have been through other if they did they had a different solution but it fits for me because it was a big obstacle in my life.I wanted to have a better life for me and my brother I was tired of taking care of everybody but myself the definition in the dictionary is a thing that blocks one's way or prevents or hinders progress.And it was true i was letting everybody else hold me down i was no longer a innocent little girl i felt like i was a mom i took care of so many kids when i was a kid myself.It was a huge obstacle in my life letting go of the hurt i felt because i didn’t have a childhood i was suppose to have but i learned to forgive those mistakes that i had to suffer from and now i can move on with

My father passed away in 1991, two weeks before Christmas. I was 25 at the time but until then I had not grown up. I was still an ignorant youth that only cared about finding the next party. My role model was now gone, forcing me to reevaluate the direction my life was heading. I needed to reexamine some of the lessons he taught me through the years.

Going through your life without an obstacle or setback is unrealistic. You are bound to have them no matter what you do. Some obstacles are harder to get over than others and some are minor and easy to deal with. All of them though, are very important to your life and shape you into the person you are now or will become. Everyone deals and manages with them differently, but it’s how it affects you after that is important. Did you come away from it stronger or weaker? Did you learn a lesson or not? Each obstacle you overcome should hopefully make you a better person in some way, shape, or form. I have had many personally, but one that has impacted me the most had just recently taken place in my life.

As part of a large extended family, I watched my parents and their siblings deal with their parents’ elder years and the health and financial issues they faced. Then came my turn as my father endured dementia for several years before his death. I was a long distance caregiver and he was in a rural area with few resources. Also, I’m a nine year survivor of Stage 3B cancer. I had to face the possibility of my own mortality and think about how I wanted to deal with that and how to make that easier for my loved ones.

Growing up, I had to face the fact that my dad was not there anymore. I developed a new mindset that I could not depend on people no matter how much I believed in them, and I needed to take initiative. My dad’s decision led to me be exposed to

Obviously losing my father was not ideal, but it did make me the man who I am today, everything i do, i try to succeed in it. Especially sports, that’s a bond him and I always had. Whether it was driving to a hockey game down the street at Rizzo Rink, or driving up and down the east coast for baseball, he was always there, every time, anytime, and always. But it wasn’t only me who was affected, of course my mother and little sister as well. I still remember the night he passed, I had my last hockey game of the season, I scored a nice backhand shot got off the ice and called my dad and told him right away. I remember asking him when he was coming home, he said “tomorrow”. The

Overcoming all my most difficult challenges. My first big challenge was facing the fact that i was all alone. I honestly don 't know how to start telling my story. My mother was in a court process of trying to get my sisters back. At the time i was so depressed, i couldn 't speak or see my little sisters. Weeks pass and still nothing, as i was getting less focused in my school work. Just in everything i felt like i was falling apart. I felt like i was breaking little by little. I could not imagine to think of loosing my mother to. But i guess god just wasn 't on my side at the moment. My mom in the process of fighting to get my sisters back she was incarcerated. My mother was thrown in jail over false statements that my grandmother made. I couldn 't believe my grandmother would ever do something like that, but i was wrong. As the months pasted i lost complete contact with my sisters. My grandmother did everything in her power to keep me away from my sisters. My grandmother always denied a simple phone call. I knew she was out to destroy my family. I thought to my self for hours, even for days how could she do this to us. I looked at my grandmother like my second mom, and for her just to do that to me. It felt liked she wanted to do everything in her power to leave me lonely. As my mother was in jail i had no one but my father, but that wasn 't much my father always worked. he never had time to comfort me in all the hard things i had to go through. I went through all my

The hardest time in my father’s life was probably childhood. After his mom died when he was 12, my father took care of his brother as if he was his child. As