How My Life Has Changed My Outlook On Life

As soon as my eyes woke up to the bitter cold of the night and stars covered by black blanket of clouds, I knew that this was it. I had tried to prepare myself that day, but I was at school when it happened. The moment the intercom came over the classroom, “Hailey Wooldridge needs to come the office, her mom is here to check her out,” my heart stopped. I was able to make it to the office without losing my composure, but as soon as my eyes met my mom standing there with tears in hers I lost it. Right there standing in the school office, the food gates of heaven opened up in my eyes and I could not stop the rivers from flowing. My best friend since kindergarten had died. All the planning of moving in together when we went to college was down the drain. The late nights of watching horribly filmed scary movies was done. My heart was broken, and the pieces are still not taped together properly. Two days later was her funeral. Her mother had asked me to say a couple of words about her during the service, but the thought of standing next to her lifeless body talking about her and not to her made everything seem surreal. By the power of prayer and numerous amounts of tears, I stood up from my seat and walked lifelessly to the podium that viewed hundreds of people waiting to see what I had to say. I do not know how I got through that speech without hysterically crying, but somehow, I talked like I was having a conversation with Serra once again. In front of me, I

An ambulance came and carried out my mom. I didn’t know what was going on, so many questions running through my mind, what was wrong with her, was she going to be ok. I was scared, more scared then I had ever been. My sister Sheridan who was 8 asked me “what’s happening?” through tears. On that day a little piece of me began to change because if I let her see my fear that would not help anyone, and so even though I didn’t know what was happening I responded “everything is going to be ok” even though I did not trust my own words.

I could already feel that my world was beginning to change; but I knew that this change would be for the better. After the recent events of my parent’s divorce, I knew that eventually life would go on but nobody told me about how quickly it would. For a while I was upset with the situation, but after I realized things were actually better it made me happier.

As I sit in the car on a breezy summer day with the windows down talking to my mom we were on our way to meet my dad because it was his weekend. When we arrived, I went into my dad’s car and started to play on my smart phone. I was so utterly bored on the way to his house until my dad got a phone call. I had no clue as to what was going on, my dad had a confused and panic stricken look on his face. He hung up the phone and calmly said “We have to go get grandma, Uncle Steve was in a bad accident.” I immediately texted my mom and told her what was happening. We got to my grandma’s house and took off to a hospital in Illinois. On the way to the hospital my dad received a phone call from my Aunt Sandy. I carefully watched his facial expressions as he talked, his face slowly turned bright red and I could see tears forming in his eyes. I knew that something horrible must have happened. I was so scared of what the news could be. My grandma looked at my dad and nervously asked “Doug what’s wrong? Your face is red and you have tears in your eyes.” Dad shook his head, “nothing ma, everything is fine,” his voice cracked as a tear rolled down his red face. Then I knew something terrible had happened.

When I turned 11-years-old my whole childhood began to change my life went from being perfect to everything but perfect. One day I came home to hear the news my father, my best friend; my hero was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer. Not knowing the struggle my family was about to take on I just began to cry. I had a million things running through my head what’s going to happen? Will everything be okay? Why him? What is going to happen? With all these things rushing through my head all I could do was cry not knowing this was least worse to come.

I held my siblings hands, and my mother’s as I was crying my last tears. I heard a voice, from my mother, “Sweet child, never, look at this moment as a disaster, look at it as a” Her voice died out. I hugged her with all my might and cried at the same time. I could see them all smiling, as if they were in a better place now.

Knowing that you have made a difference, no matter how small is the greatest feeling in the world and what my life has begun to revolve around. Throughout school my peers bullied me about my weight and looks. It truly ate me alive. I did not want to leave the house, look at myself in the mirror or in photos, or talk to others. My life revolved around thoughts of how I was not good enough for today's "society". My self-esteem plummeted, causing me to believe I did not have any left. I became shy, anxious, and clinically depressed. I felt like an embarrassment and burden to my family. I took a leap of faith in hopes of discovering that I could be useful and decided to apply to become a volunteer at the Virginia Beach SPCA, it changed my life. I began to research

I heard rumors of what life would provide which were spoken by the endless waves of the New Jersey coastlines after they forced me down, under the salty waters and it was my personal duty to rise up again before I was swept away- a lecture on getting up when life pushed its members down. It was a lesson that life itself is tough, and resilience is required for advancement and that example has always followed me in life. I had also dared to follow a trail with my older brother up the Appalachian mountains while in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The higher up we went, the thinner the trail that ran along a cliff’s edge and the more ice coated the rocks underneath us. My brother was a gritty boy who never showed any affection and often treated

As I rolled over in bed to look at my clock through blurry eyes, I immediately became wide-awake, my heart pounding like a drum in my chest. Who would call my house at one o’clock in the morning? The feeling of fear filled my whole body, from the tips of my toes to the top of my head as I stumbled my way through the dark, and out of my room. As I entered the hallway, I noticed the light was on in my parents’ room and I heard a sobbing voice that belonged to my mom. I could barely hear the words that were coming out of my mom's mouth. It was as if I was getting farther and farther away, her voice becoming more distant; my legs felt weak and my vision became blurry. There I stood, in my parents room shaking uncontrollably, my whole world coming to an end as I was told that one of the most important people in my life had passed

I have experienced many things that have impacted my life, but none compare to the second time I have moved in my life.

I changed, I didn’t' even realize that I did, till now when I had to write about it. Throughout my years of living, I never payed much attention to myself, I've always been caring about others and making them smile and happy and comfortable . Looking back I realized throughout those years I've been helping others my characteristic been evolving me changing me without me realizing it adapting me to my environment. That changed made me better, looking back and seeing how much I helped others without realizing it made me smile a little.

I remember walking away after a couple minutes, I was at my business when he stopped by to visit. After hearing this devastating news I went to the back of store as I could feel my eyes beginning to fill with tears. I tried to be strong but couldn’t hold back the tears any longer. With tears running down my face I remember my mom coming to the back to comfort me. I had to pull myself together but was it so hard, so much information processing in my mind. I had so many thoughts of why, how, anger, emptiness and so much sadness.

Everything happens for a reason. The thing that impacted my life the most was when my parents got divorced. Next was when my two siblings moved out of town to live with their dad. The last thing that had a pretty big impact on my life was when my dad got engaged. These are the three most things that had an impact on my life.

The three things that have made the biggest impact on and have influenced my life that shaped me into the person I am today are family background, experiences from my school year, and religious beliefs. Our culture provides a lens through which we view the world and interpret our everyday experiences. In order to know who I am today, I must look at who you’ve been. Many educators around the country are interested in developing a multicultural approach in their teaching. They find themselves in classrooms with 25 children of varying racial and cultural backgrounds, and are looking for ways to connect what they do in the classroom to the cultures represented by their students. Before we can begin to understand others, however, we need to understand ourselves and what we bring to our interactions with others.

The one choice that changed my life forever was that our family emigrated from Hong Kong to Canada in 1974. I was only seven years old. My Chinese name is Sau Han and this is my immigration history. My family came to Canada for a job offer but mainly it was for a better life. I had to leave behind many loving family members in Hong Kong. We also left behind our old lives, furniture, car, apartment, and friends. Our journey began when we hopped on a JAL (Japan airlines) jumbo jet on a sixteen-hour flight to Vancouver, British Columbia with a brief stop-over in Tokyo, Japan. Everything looked foreign to us on our arrival. What we hoped in the future was to be able to learn English, to adapt to our foreign surroundings, to settle down in our new home, and to go back to visit our friends and relatives in Hong Kong. These challenges are just the first of many obstacles to be faced. This immigration was not just a new beginning for my family but also a window of opportunity for the next generation.