Personal Narrative: My First Year Of Transformation

Until I walked onto the stage to take a bow, I didn’t realize that I just danced, acted and sang a solo. It took me a long time to get to that fifth grade Christmas play where I wasn’t shy anymore. Due to the fact that I wasn’t Darth Vader anymore, so I didn’t need a mask strapped onto my face to breathe at night. Asthma, respirators and surgeries were what my childhood consisted of and I would have time to, at most, socialize with my family. Years after my final surgery, my currently bubbly-self erupted from within and many of my friends never knew how I was before.

The obstacle that I had, stopped me from being happy, or living the life that I wanted to live. Being alone, antisocial, and other obstacles that I had, blocked me from being happy and instead lead me into a life where I did not know what to do. Sometimes an obstacle is nothing physical like a barrier or some force, for me it was mental warfare that I had with myself for years that I still deal with to this day. Conflicting with yourself is just as bad as someone else or an object because you have to deal with the fact that you did this all to yourself, you can’t give anyone else the blame. That however, could lead to even more mental warfare in your own head, especially if you are very defiant to take blame like I am.

After reviewing my life, I have decided my life defining moment was when my family and I moved to Texas from Oklahoma. I consider this move my life changing moment because it changed so many things in my life. This move set the stage for an entirely new life for me. Moving six hours away from the only home I knew certainly called for many changes.

I am emailing to tell you that my major change to mangement was completed today! Furthermore, I am curently on the wait list for both MGT 471 and MGT 390. Yesterday when we met, we both discussed that you would only be able to get me into 471 but you would have to talk to the professor about 390.

The agency that I visited for my placement is called Positive Change Academy. This academy is located in Wilmington Delaware. Wilmington Delaware is a city where about 17,000 of its residents are living below the poverty level. Positive Change is an alternative school for children in 1st through 8th grade. Children are enrolled in this school usually due to behavioral issues. The goal is to equip the children with the appropriate resources to help reintegrate them all back into public, or private schooling systems. I had the pleasure of interviewing with Mr. Miller: Director of Education. Mr. Miller stated that he is basically the assistant principal at the school.

Week one has passed by quickly! I think this week was very successful and I can say that I have learned many new things. This week has been an experience for me learning things about the business world. I am not a business major so I was not expecting to take these classes. I was assigned them, but have found them very beneficial. As I read through the first couple of chapters I read things I had heard before. This was a good thing that I could put the information with the terms I had heard previously.

When I was 13 years old, my parents started to think about moving to United States because my dad was already working here for a company. We started all the immigration related process which took a while to end. When I was 14, one day I came back from school and my parents told me we were moving to US in 2-3 months. When I heard it first, I was happy, but later I started thinking about how I will be leaving everything behind. My family, friends and neighbors whom I have been with since I was little, I will be leaving all of them in a few months. As the date approached closer, we started to pack more and more things. There was

From my first engagement with John until now, I maintained the MI spirit by honoring and accepting his autonomy, providing support, evoking hope, and by recognizing my crucial role in supporting a client's journey of change. I also provided a supportive and welcoming environment, while maintaining a sense of neutrality and equipoise, and being cognizant of my role as a clinician (as opposed to a teacher, confronter, or mentor), and the effect it has on the establishment of our collaborative therapeutic relationship. Throughout most of my interactions with John, I used the cardinal OARS (Open-ended questions, Affirmations, Reflective listening, Summarizations) techniques commonly used in MI (Miller

I get down on all fours and relax my whole body, my bones begin to crack. Unlike most wolves, where it stops hurting awhile after your first shift. Mine shift didn't. It still hurts even though it has been six years (No. Our cloths they don't rip, and no. Don't ask me where they go)

I remember when I started my recovery I was discharged from the detox program into a six month transitional program. Transitional living that deal with people recovering from addiction are often referred to as recovery residences. The Transitional Living Center provided me a place where I could re-establish my own self-worth. When I was at the transitional housing I felt safe from the possibility of a relapse. My recovery plan was individualized according to the determination of my needs. They taught me what my triggers were and how deal with them in positive ways. I remember when my six months were up and I was getting ready to be transferred into the supportive housing program to be integrated back into the community. Supportive housing allowed

Brrrrrrringgg! The high-pitched tone on my phone rings temptingly, but I manage to resist the urge to look at the new message. Reading under the dim light in my bedroom, I can still hear the clatter of plates and busy shuffling outside my door as the night turns black over the colonial city of Leon. Luckily, my shift is over, and I can now try to focus on my schoolwork. At 12 years old, I started working as the cashier in my parents’ tiny Spanish restaurant. We moved to Leon in search of a better future, leaving broken promises behind as well as a host of caring friends that I would never see again. It would take a while, but, eventually, I would see reality through the eyes of an adult, even though I was just a kid.

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.

Late summer of 2015, my dear friend, Rhonda Mannes invited me to Morning Glory Prayer at Dumas Christian Center, under the leadership Pastor James Elam. At each intercessory prayer service that I attended, I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit. While in prayer October 2015, I heard the Holy Spirit speak so gently to “Step Out.” I didn’t know what this really meant; but I was being set up for something beyond my imagination. “Now to Him who is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly more than all that we dare ask or think [infinitely beyond our greatest prayers, hopes, or dreams], according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be the

For First Year Experience 1001 we were required to do a service activity. On April 1, 2017, I helped at a race to end hunger. Manna on Main Street is an organization that has been helping people in the North Penn region since 1981, working to end hunger. They have both a food pantry and a soup kitchen, along with educational opportunities and financial aid services. This race was both a 5K and a 5-mile run and was designed for all ages and all styles of runners, encouraging everyone to participate. Something people do not realize is how many people are living in food insecure homes. According to Manna’s website, In Montgomery County alone, 10% or more than 80,710 individuals are food insecure; 13.2% are children. Participating in this event helped raise money to provide those individuals with the support they need. Mercy or compassion, here at Gwynedd Mercy University is one of our core values and not only did raising money for those experiencing food insecurity help show mercy to those in need, but it also allowed me personally to grow and develop intellectually.

I can say my personal transition started in 2013 when I up and left everything an moved to Florida. I came down here with no friends, family, or job. I had a 2 year old with me and had no clue what I was going to do or how I was going to provide for my child. I did not trust anyone and lost my faith. I stayed shut in my home unable to cope with everything that was going on around me. I did not have much of a social life which kept my daughter from enjoying life as well. It has been a long journey that has nearly taken four years to get to, but I have managed. I now attend elevate life church; which was introduced to me two years ago, but I was too much in self pity to appreciate it. The church has opened my eyes to a lot. I am in the leadership