My Quality Of Life

Everyone faces struggles in their life. Some allow those struggles to help build them as a person, others let those struggles tear them down. For me, I allowed my struggles to help me develop academically and personally. Without struggle there is no progress.

If you have ever said to yourself, I have no determination in life, I fall flat in everything I attempt; if we all gave up at the sight of failure, no one would ever realize whichever goals they have in life. Angela Lee Duckworth tells Deborah Perkins-Gough that being gritty or having grit is to be resilient in the face of failure or adversity. If you live by a code, of, “If I can’t do it the first time I will not try again” you will never undertake anything. Many studies have been conducted that explicitly say successful people are not just smart, but also strong in the face of challenges. In the article, “What if the secret to success is failure?” Levine collaborates, “The students who persisted in college were not necessarily the ones who had excelled academically at KIPP; they were the ones who were able to

Yes, I do have grit in my life for a long time. Main reason I have set goals before I started college what I want to try to become a National Park Service Ranger and do photography on the side. There have been many instances I have thought about different life goals I have wanted to do, but this most important. Finding my passion for becoming a National Park Service Ranger is the goal in my life for next chapter to adulthood.  I have been very determined be  successful in my life to get what I put in which is lots of time and effort.

As a young child, I was always closer to my father, so witnessing him do such horrible things to my mother had forever traumatized me. My parent’s separation during my prepubescent years was the worst experience I had in my life. I fell into a stage in which I resented my father for damaging our home and not only breaking my mother’s heart, but mine as well. I could not and would not grasp the idea that living in New York would somehow be better for us. I would spend night after night crying myself to sleep because all I wanted was my family to go back to what I considered normal for a long

Life is a made up of an assortment of moments. Many say that one must learn from obstacles that everyone struggles with. Many also say that every challenge that we come across assist us to achieve strength of our character and self-growth. As a new kid coming from the ghetto to a suburban setting was rough at times because of bullies making comments about my speech and the ability of reading. For myself, learning to read was more difficult than tying my shoes or even riding a bike without training wheels. Coming from Bridgeport, Connecticut to Monroe, Connecticut was a huge transition; new school, new house and new people. Arriving to Monroe sparked an instant change, I was receiving work at levels that I had never experienced but was normal

Throughout my childhood my mother had severe bipolar disorder and took her daily rage out on my three siblings, my father and myself. My oldest brother, Nick, was impacted by her behavior and grew into a violent child. When my parents were gone Nick was the babysitter. I was weak and defenseless—an easy target for the outlet of his anger. He formed an alliance with our siblings and tormented me with every opportunity. Eventually, I developed a fear of my siblings in addition to my established fear of my mom. This fear turned into depression and self-doubt. For years I dreaded being at home where I was blanketed by harassment and blame, so I actively sought out opportunities to escape.

My story begins when I was in my late teens as the door closed, the lock latched, and I stood there with my hands in my pocket shocked. Tears ran down my dark circled eyes, I looked to my left, then to my right, looking for a place to hide. The weight of the world was on my chest, and suffocating seemed inevitable as the seconds dragged on. That is when the adolescent psychiatrist arrived. It had been 5 nights since I last slept, 3 days since eating, and yes, I had just been voluntarily committed into a mental health outpatient facility. Until these moments, I had never really thought about my family history of mental illness but it soon plagued my mind. I remember my dad’s alcoholism and depression,

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.

Challenges have varied throughout my life in both health complications and society itself. Early trauma has conflicted my mom for sometime whose brothers died in a horrendous drowning accident in 1979 . As life progressed and I came into the world, drug addiction and other illnesses manifested in our outside family, eventually making its way to my older sister. These events at a young age helped me understand reality faster than a normal person.

Throughout my life I faced a lot of challenges. I had to overcome the obstacle that was on my way. The obstacle made me stronger and made me the person who I am right now a ambitious and hardworking student. The problem shaped me up because I know that I have to work for what I want and to not depend on no one, this made me more independent. Also, I learned from my mistake and try to do better.

One weekend, we had decided to clean out the house to surprise my mother. My father found papers stashed away that revealed theft charges; my mother had stolen medication when she substituted for the nurse in my elementary school. I remember my dad scouring the house for more evidence, even finding a stash of pill bottles under their mattress. She had another court date coming up that he learned about, just a few weeks before a family trip to Disney. Shortly after that hearing, my family took our last vacation as a whole, knowing that a key member would be lost to us the Monday after our return; she was going into work-release for two months. Before the end of those sixty days, my father learned that my mother had been unfaithful. Their marriage ended, and at eleven and nine, my sister and I said what we didn't realize would be goodbye to our mother for a great while. Her drug abuse continued, and months of time would pass between visits. We saw that sweet, ideal mother devolve into an addict. This loss has shaped me greatly, and it has taught me integrity, strength of character, and great love for others; without these things, my mother cost herself her family and

During the process of my parent’s divorce, I experienced many things I never expected. I blankly watched my dad move all of his belongings out of our house, saw my mom come home sobbing, and was forced to attend family therapy sessions. At first I had a difficult time adjusting; I felt depressed and lackadaisical, I wanted to give up. But I soon realized my parent’s situation was completely out of my control, and I decided to take charge of my own life. I learned the significance of independence and responsibility. My mom had her own troubles to deal with and my dad wasn’t around so I had to figure things out for myself, as well as my younger sister.

A personal quality that is important to me and that I am proud of is my compassion for others. In a competitive and increasingly disconnected world, my compassion, something I once viewed as a weakness, helps keep me grounded. My compassion for others is what drives me to befriend new students, stand by and support my friends dealing with mental illnesses and drug addictions, take my dog on long hikes, life a vegan lifestyle, vote with my money, give up my seat for the old woman on the bus, help my sister with her math homework, give my teachers the respect they deserve, drive food donations from my school to the food bank every Friday afternoon after school, and spend my weekends at the aquarium trying, desperately, to convince people to take

I grew up in a unhealthy household; days and nights were drowned by screaming, fighting, crying, mental and emotional abuse. Being the youngest in my family I took the aftermath of my mother and siblings’ pain and aggravation. My only break was school, but even then I was tormented by my own bottled up emotions.

Sometimes we go through difficult situations where we do not understand why the situation occurs. Sometimes we go through difficult situations and we do understand why the situation occurs. I believe these situations do make us better as individuals. I have faced three separate challenging circumstances, in the past six months, which has made me more independent and cultivated. I have been academically dismissed from school, my mom received open-heart surgery and I was threatened to be fired from my job. Difficult situations are challenging, but challenges build character.