My Life From The 28 Year Old Women I 'm Now

At twenty-two years old my younger-self had previously pictured me in an entirely different place. I never imagined living in Texas, I’m originally from Chicago, and that’s where I thought I would reside. I thought I’d be graduated from college already, but fate had a different plan. And never in a million years did I think I would become a drug addict; but I am, and you know what? It’s been the best thing that has ever happened to me, it’s something I’m truly thankful for now. See, all the things listed above may seem like negative things if you look at them from an outside perspective; however to me, they’ve changed me in ways I never thought possible just six months ago. Multiple circumstances have led me to this point, but a few stick

Unlike most people, I did not get to be a carefree child for long. Even though I always said that I could not wait to grow up, now I wish that it all did not happen so fast and early in my life. From eleven to twelve years old—that would be the period I describe as the time I had to put my big-girl pants on and face the real, cruel and unwelcoming adult world. In that time period, I can specifically pinpoint two major events that ended my childhood: my move from Russia to the United States and the birth of my baby sister Toma. To some those might not seem significant enough to change someone’s life to the extent that they changed mine; however those events molded me into the person I am today.

I remember when my water bag broke; it was August 12, 1992, and the time was 12:15am.I was very excited that I would see my new baby on her due date. I did what the child birthing book recommended. I woke my husband up and told him to call the hospital. In the meantime I decided to take a shower. I was pretty calm because I didn't have any contractions. I wore my best maternity outfit and was spruced up compared to my husband. I even put on some perfume. You see, we had just gone to bed at 11:30 that night. My husband looked a little worse for wear. We got to the hospital and then were led into the maternity room. The room looked a little dingy with its yellow light and peeling paint. The hospital bed was small and narrow. I got scared,

I am the way I am because of my father, he drives me to get an education, and he wants me to be better than him. My dad constantly tells me “tell me who your friends are and I’ll tell you who you’re going to be.” This quote means significantly to me because when I was in 6th grade I would hang out with the wrong crowd, later when I was a freshman, I made new friends, better friends, and the ones that push me to strive. My mom is my rock, she struggles sometimes since she raised my brother and I alone, but she always finds a way to get us what we need for school and sports that we play in. I have this picture of my brother, my cousin, and I in front of our house when we first bought it, it’s been 17 years that I’ve been living in it. It may not be the nicest house, but its payed off and I have a roof over my head, to me that’s all that matters. My neighborhood is actually quiet, I have 3 neighbors that are nice people, when we go out of town they watch our house for

This essay will demonstrate my understanding of developments which occur at each stage of an individual's life cycle. I will relate these developments to two relevant psychological theories and discuss how an individual's needs must be met to enable them to develop.

Annika’s natural propensity towards academic success has always placed me in a position of comparison; though three years younger, I would strive to excel as she did. Even if I couldn’t reach her level, the pressure motivated me to do my best, and her assuring and calm demeanor would remind me that there’s always another shot. Learning from her habits and attitude gave me the guidance to succeed on my own and be proud of my accomplishments; my inductance into National Honor Society proved to me that the pressure of having someone to look up to can be a supportive force rather than a debilitating grievance. Similarly, Jaineel’s natural athletic ability in every sport he pursued from basketball to karate pushed me to perform my best in tennis. His determination to live by a schedule in order to see progress gave me the foresight to not give up when I wanted to throw in the towel, and his love for sports reminds me of why I continue to play tennis even today.  Living with 8 other perspectives to a situation is a true blessing. If there is ever a dilemma in my life, everyone will share his or her opinion but support me no matter which direction I choose. Growing up with my family has definitely been a unique experience, but I would never change it for the world. My home gives me strength, assurance, stability, laughter, and love as I wake up to 8 people banging on my bedroom door every morning ready to

Before realizing what was happening, a nurse was trying to put an IV in my arm. The needle compared to my little arm looked huge and too long to go in my arm. I refused to let them touch me and tried to run to my mom. When they had a hard time succeeding at putting my IV in, they decided to get help from my mom. She calmly told me to lay down and to watch her, while they put the needle in. It was hard to ignore the pain pulsing through my arm and all the commotion happening all around me. I looked at my mom and saw the tears that were falling down her face as they held me down. When they were done, there was an IV and a cast on my arm, so that I would not be able to pull the IV out. Then they wheeled me into another room where my mom held and comforted me, while we waited to hear the results.

Over the course of the last 5 months I have experienced many challenges that have presented to me in a wide variety of ways, some of which presented themselves based on my acts of poor judgment, and others I enacted on my own behalf. Throughout this period of time I have set many goals both academic and personal based on my challenges which have allowed me to stay focused and driven to be successful. Having an opportunity for personal reflection I have learned many things about myself and how I function, learn, and perform which as allowed me to grow mentally, personally, and spiritually. I now know and have gained a better understanding for how I think and feel, and how the decisions that I make on a daily basis shape my future. It is important for me to pay attention to how my actions have affected myself and those around me in that past and consider it as I move through life in the future.

Who We Are is determined by our individual growth and development. According to Erik Erikson (1971) eight stage developmental theory, humans continue to develop throughout their entire lifespan from birth until death. Each stage representing a key aspect in the development of one’s identity, and personality, and overall well-being. Our personal identity gives each of us an integrated and cohesive sense of self that endures and continues to grow as we age (Santrock 2009). These elements are influenced by factors such as socioeconomic status, location, culture, spiritual beliefs, and meeting of the basic human need. They determine how we grow, develop, and live our daily lives. Traveling through each stage in life from youth, adolescence, and adulthood, we must identify our strength and weaknesses through our choices, experiences, trauma, and death. Each experience influences our structure as it relates to adaptability, resilience, and help identity the consciousness of self. This development analysis is the journey through my life emphasizing on my personal growth and development setting the stage to the person that writes this paper reflecting on her life choices, and experiences in several forms (physically, mentally, and spiritually).

I have overcome many obstacles within my life and I am proud of where I am today. To start, my full name is Samantha Heart LeClair. I was brought into this world on December 21st 1995, in Kingston. I moved to Sydenham for four years at which time my family returned to Kingston. I have attended three elementary schools, two high schools and now two colleges. I am currently taking the Community Service Worker (CSW) program at Trillium College. In elementary school, I played soccer and basketball, and was involved with the track team. For extracurricular activities, I tried hip-hop dance classes, ballet classes and piano classes. My family is limited, but the ones who are an active part of my life mean the world to me. I was raised to believe family comes first and in the end, family will be there. Throughout my life journey, I have come to realize this is very accurate. My family consists of my mom, brother, stepdad and son. My mother is my best friend. She has always been there to support every decision and bring light on my dark days. My brother is three years older than I; we have had many falling outs, but he is still one of my closest friends. My stepdad (Dan) isn’t just a stepdad; he is my dad. Dan has been a better father figure than my biological father, which is why I consider him my actual father. It takes more than just creating a life to be a father; it takes good parenting, patience and love to be one. My son, Noah, is an amazing blessing. He is what

No matter who you are I believe that everyone will go through stages in their life that will get them to where they are on today. I am a person who has a very interesting story; this is the first time it will be told in full. We were asked to use Erik Erikson’s theory of development as a guideline to telling the story of our lives. At first I was very nervous; however, I soon realized that this would be a fun task. Erik Erikson has eight stages of Development (Zastrow and Kirst-Ashman). I will be walking you though my life using each one of his stages drawing out the map of my life. Within my life I have had some very interesting encounters. I have been through foster care, abuse, rape, molestation, starvation, adoption, depression, and

We looked at each other, stood up, and headed down the big hallway and around the corner to find my mom gasping at the fact that her water had broken. This was a surprise seeing as she was not due to give birth to my little sister for another two weeks. Once again, we were out the door and in the car. My grandmother did not put me in my car seat right and I remember struggling to free my arms the entire ride. My mom sat in the front seat yelling and muttering words under her breath. I was afraid because my mom was in such a strange state but I soon realized that she was yelling more at my grandmother than at her painful stomach. Every time we approached traffic, she gasped and turned behind her with her hand on my car seat, as to secure me from some ejecting force. It was not until years later that I was told all of the stories about what a terrible driver my grandmother was and how many cars she destroyed in various "incidents," as my grandfather calls them. We reached the hospital in plenty of time, but with one problem remaining, my grandfather and dad remained uninformed and unreachable as the resided among thousands of intoxicated football fans. They arrived in just enough time to see my mom before she had my sister, but not without strategic methods to get a hold of them. They first had to be paged over the intercom and when that seized to succeed, event staff members were sent to find them standing

This paper is a work of self-examination to find out what influenced my development from birth to this my 56th year. I will delve into my past and try to honestly and without judgment describe what events and actions led me to become the person I am today. I will look at the way in which the culture and family I grew up in build the frame-work of the person I have evolved into.

For my life journey I have chose to use Eric Erikson’s theory I have decided to use his theory because to me his theory suited my life appropriately. Eric Erikson is a well known theorist from the twentieth century, he has produced many theories. One of his most known and recognized theory is the psychosocial development. This theory describes the steps a person goes through in life. There are nine stages in his theory. Originally his theory only eight steps, but his wife found the last step after his death and published it. The nine stages are: trust vs. mistrust, autonomy vs. shame and doubt, initiative vs. guilt, industry vs. inferiority, identity vs. role confusion, intimacy and soliditary vs. isolation, generativity vs. self absorption and stagnation, and integrity vs. despair. Although, I have not gone through all of these steps yet due to my age I am only twenty two. I will speak about the steps I have gone through so far.

When I was growing up, I remember my family situation as extremely chaotic. I was one of eight children and my father and mother had little time to devote to me individually. Most of the time they spent trying to earn enough to support us with their meager resources. I was often called upon to act as a surrogate mother to my siblings. I felt I had little time to develop my own unique perspective and voice when I was very young. Even as a preschooler I remember doing chores to help out at home. However, this situation did foster some positive aspects of my character. I learned to be mature at an early age and gained a sense of competence because of my responsibilities. But I also was taught put the needs of others second to my own. I feel that I did not learn to value my own, legitimate desires to an adequate degree as a young girl and have only recently acquired a true sense of worth [THESIS].