Personal Narrative: Growing Up To Grow Up

I think that I have grown as a student and a person as a whole. Emotionally I have matured so that I don't take everything so serious, I don't get upset over things I don't need too. I have become more responsible for example I take care of my items and do my homework. I have more knowledge now than ever before, this knowledge has helped shaped me to who I am. Over all I have grown greatly throughout the years.

Growing up I was raised by my mother and great-grandfather; my father was never involved and still isn’t presently. Since my mom was a single parent she was always working late at night and my great-grandfather would take care of me. He was a strong, stubborn man who loved everyone with all of his heart. However, he was dying of two arduous cancers; esophagus and colon. I was well aware of what was happening to the only father-figure in my life but I tried to keep his spirits up every day. I spent every day of my first 9 years with him and I regret that I didn’t spend more. Due to him being sick and passing away, I grew up quick. I was more mature than most of the kids I was around which inhibited my child-like character. Throughout middle

Becoming the new kid all over again. Getting looked down upon. Not knowing my way around the school. Officially becoming responsible for my own actions.

14 years of age and still growing. I would say that I’ve experienced being adult, but I’ve got 4 more years for that. What I have experienced is my coming of age,and transforming over my years of life. Typically, being the outgoing person I am today, you would think I’m an interesting person, doing a lot of fun things. I’m actually not though. Besides the fact that I’m a troublemaker and a person that doesn’t really make a lot of friends now that I am older. My only close friends are from when I was younger. I find it harder for me to make more friends now that I am in Highschool. I also find it easier for me to work better, harder, and more efficient on any of my school work. That’s just about me now. I’ll tell you how I succeeded on who I am today, and the obstacles it took me to get here.

I came to Ridge Family Center for Learning in second grade. On top of being “the new kid” in school, I didn’t know anyone besides my neighbor. She had been going to this school since kindergarten and I ate lunch with her and her friends everyday. One day, as I ate my usual PB & J, she said “Are you excited for the musical?” Apparently it happens every year, yet I was not aware of this. Naturally, being a little kid, I was excited and screamed “Really? I love watching people perform!” My parents loved musicals and took me to see my fair share of them. She gave me a strange look and laughed. “You don’t get to watch. We’re performing on the stage, silly!” My jaw dropped. All I could think about was how scared I was. I was about to sing on stage in front of 200 parents.

I am a first generation child to have been born in my family, the first generation who is about to graduate high school and the first generation to go to a college and succeed in life.

Change is the constant thing in the world. From infancy till now many dramatic changes take place in my life physically, mentally, emotionally, psychologically intellectually etc.

As a little girl i used to believe that when i grew up i would be a princess who would live in a pink world filled with glitter,but obviosusly that was not going to be my future.As i grew up and learned more about life i realize that i had to work hard in order to live a life that i would enjoy.I saw the amunt of long hours my parents would put into their job to to keep my brothers and I in a comfortable place.We always had food on the table and clothes on our back but the struggle was trying to make enough money to pay the montly bills.I know the determination my parents had to make a good living for us.they worked hard for us and never gave up.I remember that at times i would wake up at 5 in the morning and hear how much in a rush my mom

While big events can make major changes, little events define how we become as adults. My earliest memories is at a five year-old. It is one spot where I have been to, in my thoughts, more than any other has. In this memory, it was evening, as I stood on a dirt path. It was an unpaved driveway for the church parsonage.

The growing up process is all about messing up and learning from your mistakes. I don’t think the amount of mistakes you’ve made determines your character but rather how you learn and grown from them. People tend to learn a whole lot during the teenage years and I certainly did.There were a few situations in particular that I definitely think I learned from.

When I was younger, I would often say “I will not be like that when I grow up!” or “When I’m a mom, I will not do that to my kids!” Much of my childhood was spent competing with others for my parent’s attention. They were divorced when I was three years old and constantly in relationships with others, which always took priority over time with me. My sister got pregnant at the age of 15 because she wanted to and that was something that I wanted either. She also battled an addiction to drugs throughout her life that I knew was not for me. With all the bad examples growing up, there were also some good things that I knew I wanted to be a part of me as an adult.

My early years were a patchwork of typical suburban activities--school projects, basketball teams, and zany summer camps. I hung out with friends from church who lived generally carefree lives with few heavy responsibilities. Naturally, I fell into the same boat just through my own assimilation into that core group of friends. Recently, my father stepped down as the lead pastor of our church to pursue a different calling as a missionary consultant to churches across the United States. The week after my parents said their final good-byes to the congregation, my brother went off to college in Arizona, followed by the start of my senior year of high school. Everything was happening so quickly at that time, but it wasn’t

This past summer I attended North Carolina Governor’s School West and it was a truly growing experience. Through my time with the program, I strongly believe that I made the transition from childhood to adulthood.

Growing up for me was quiet. I lived an average life, for example I would go to school, mom and dad would go to work, and we do it all over again the next morning. Nothing really changed until the beginning of second grade. After one week of second grade at a school I had been going to for years, my family decide to move. After we moved once we continued to move. To this day I don’t know why we moved around so much, but it caused me to check into a different school each month. I had changed five schools in less than a year.

Novelists Alex Shakur said, "childhood and adulthood were not factors of age. but states of mind." The day I recognized my transition from childhood to adulthood, this change in my state of mind, was July 17, 2015. It was a monumental day for the state of Oklahoma and its constituents. This day left an impact on our state, but for myself, however, it left a change so unforgettable. Instantly effective, it transfigured my way of thinking and constructed a standard for the way in which I wanted to live my life. This significant day marked my personal recognition of my transition to adulthood, but it wasn't the event that the average person recognizes their entrance to adulthood. Nevertheless, it wasn't the day I started my first job, it wasn't