My Life Reflection Paper

Invidious comparison and vicarious traumatization are two things that most people will experience in their lifetime. I know for I personally have experienced both during my 28 years of life. Invidious comparison and vicarious traumatization can both be damaging to yourself and other people involved. That is why I'd like to take the time to explain a few important topics on invidious comparison and vicarious traumatization, such as; how to stop invidious comparison, identify strategies that I currently use to avoid vicarious traumatization in my personal life, how those strategies will help me avoid vicarious traumatization as a human service worker and what strategies I could develop to avoid it as well.

Hey I’m Adrian McGill African American citizen and I’m from a small city down south in Mississippi by the name of Hattiesburg. I was born on the night of July 25, 1990 in Forest General Hospital weighing seven pounds two ounces. I am the son of Jerry and Sandra McGill, who I love dearly. I am the only child my parents have and enjoy every moment of ‘’laughing out loud’’. As a child, my parents always taught me to never quit at anything, but to figure it out. My parents encourage me to follow my goals and in life and to also finish getting my diploma through Penn Foster. That’s my plan to accomplish all of my goals one at time and to do them to the best of my ability. My favorite colors are dark blue and black I like blue and black

I am currently sitting in 7th hour of Growth of America where we were asked to reflect back on our life so far. I am now sixteen and a sophomore at New Prague High School. This autobiography is going to show the ups and downs in my life. Most of my life I lived in Webster with my mom, dad, and my sister who is 19. Then at about age 10 I moved to New Market with my mom for a couple years because my parents got divorced. Now I live in New Prague with my mom and still in Webster with my dad, I switch between houses every other day.

1. They say that fathers are the superheroes in the family because they protect and provide for us. 2. I think that mothers are superheroes too, because they can take on the same responsibility as the father.

In order to understand me, or the moment in which I learned that I was meant to be here, I have to show my past trials, my pain. A little over a year ago, I lost my mother due to ovarian cancer. A few months after that, I lost my cousin’s husband due to suicide on October 17, 2016. Then I lost my neighbors Michael Woodard, his father Lewis Woodard, then his mother, Bobbie Woodard, who passed away on August 29, 2017. I used to go over to their house almost every day after school, sometimes they would help me with my homework. And my teacher Mrs. Erwin, on September 12, 2017, due to a heart attack. Death is a part of our existence, a part of our lives. For some people it happens all at once, for others it is spaced out over their lifetime. There have been many times in my life when I should have died—some due to my own hand, others not so much. I was born on September 23, 1999, at seven-thirty a.m. I was due to be born somewhere around the sixteenth of December, that year, I was born three months before I was supposed to; I wasn’t supposed to live past that day. When I was born, I weighed two pounds, ten and half ounces. My father was the first one to hold me, his hand covered my entire body as I layed on his chest. I have always been a fighter; I am a survivor. From what I was told, when I was little, my dad’s girlfriend was giving me a bath when I fell over and started choking on the water, as she was on the phone with my mom. Another time, I was locked in a hot car,

Over the course of my lifetime, I've learned that life isn't fair. If you want something, you just don't get it for free; you have to work hard for it. Day and night you slave towards your goal and the results you gain from the experience might be worth it, or it might change your life forever. I'm not talking about positively, rather, the change will be so drastic that it might affect how you live your life.

Change is painful. Change is risking the safety of what one knows to explore the vast unknown. To allow change to intrude into one’s life is to endure discomfort, to endure pain. As difficult as it may be to let go of the familiar, change is a necessity for human development. Without change, there is no growth. Once one decides they have a desire to improve themselves as human beings, they must introspect deeply, and question how their beliefs and mindsets shape their achievements, relationships, and goals for their future. I am willing to do this exact thing, my success in life depends on it. My beliefs and mindsets have truly impacted me as a person. We will explore these impacts by exploring my achievements, my relationships, and lastly, my goals for the future.

Throughout my life, I continually ask the same questions: WHY is this the way it is? WHAT can I do to help?

Life is and always will be unpredictable. If you want to go left life takes you diagonal right with an upward slant. Nothing is set in stone despite what you are sure is going to happen. It is like a game of baseball when you are sure that the pitcher is going to throw a fast ball at you but instead throws the ball to first base and gets your teammate out. The complete opposite of what you were expecting because of your limited view. You were waiting and watching for the pitch which meant you were not paying any attention to the teammate on first base. “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans” John Lennon said that. When you have this idea of what life will be and you follow it, the chances of it changing are greater than the chances of life being exactly what you expect. I had always thought that I would never make it very far in life. My view was limited to this very narrow field of vision that surrounded my life when I was young. You had to be smart, with a good family, and you had to be able to contribute something to the world. I did not have a future that would work out well for me because I was not smart and I could not contribute to anything. At least that’s what I thought for the longest time.

Being seven, perspective on life is commonly very optimistic, however when I was seven that all came crashing down in just one day. 08 August 2008 my father was murdered while my family and I were at the house with him. The death of my father changed my perspective greatly, it showed me what community really means, and impacted my school life throughout my elementary, middle, and high school career.

During the 16 weeks that I’ve participated in this yoga class, I’ve learned the importance of belly breathing and meditating. I decided to take this course this semester, because my psychiatrist actually suggested I take yoga as a way of coping with my stress and anxiety. I initially did not think that it would work, but we—my psychiatrist and I—noticed my stress and anxiety slowing diminishing.

In group one, we have some of the most amazing people this world could offer. We consist of three males, one female and range from fresh out of high school to our late thirties. Our names from youngest to oldest are Colby, Devin, Katee, and Rodrick. We all come from unique and diverse backgrounds. These are the stories of our lives.

One's dream and aspirations to supersede in life must be stronger and greater than limitations set forth by others. The experience that were bestowed to me during my short life has elevated me to the woman I am today. Please walk with me as I give you the opportunity to see the world from my eyes:

Throughout this course, I have learned a great deal of useful information that I can apply to my everyday life. I had to learn to expand my writing skills and gave me a chance to use different writing techniques I can carry on in my higher education journey. I can honestly say, this is one class that I would recommend to anyone who needs help with learning to navigate the internet. At first I thought I would struggle because English isn’t my strong suit.

While being at public school my whole life, I was never able to learn about the Bible or speak about my faith. I got blessed with the ability to go to a Christian school and getting to have a bible class at EC has been such a blessing, but getting the chance to plan chapel weekly and being in a smaller group with people who have such a close relationship with Christ is an opportunity I really want to take. I love to share my opinion and have conversations while being in class, but the past three years of being in a bible class I've learned it is more sitting and listening to the teacher, memorizing bible verses, and taking tests according to what we just learned. I never really would get the chance during class to have a conversation about