Personal Narrative: The Way That Changed My Life

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.

My family migrated to the United States when I was ten years old. As someone who grew up in a non-English-speaking country, I knew the moment I entered my fourth-grade classroom that a language barrier existed between me and my classmates that I had to face squarely and try hard to overcome.

Addie and I stood in the entrance of the cafe as the rain dripped down the overhang and down the brown and red sign that read Addie’s Cafe. It seemed like it was one of those normal rainy days in Wyoming but it wasn’t. Addie’s my aunt, she took me in when my mother couldn’t and she’s amazingly generous, so you’d think over the few years everything got better, and so did I but it seemed things were only getting worse.

January 14, 1997: Immigrating to Canada from Jordan and settling down in the city of Halifax as a child dramatically changed my life. As I grew older, I started to question the purpose behind immigrating to Canada. After seeing my parents’ daily struggles to provide the best living conditions, I began to understand the motivation behind the move that forever changed my life. The immigration to Canada promised a brighter future. Wrapped around this reviving realization, I began to elevate myself out of loneliness, helplessness, and discomfort. This led me to my greatest accomplishment where I achieved my undergraduate degree of finance at the age of 19. Being young has always been an underestimation of my abilities and determination. I believe that age does not define or limit our capabilities, yet it is the mind that defines our age.

“For a really long time, I thought being different was a negative thing. But as I grew older, I started to realize we were all born to stand out; nobody is born to blend in,” perfectly stated by Halima Aden. The events that have affected my life have shaped the person I am today. My parents were born and raised in Iran, and their journey to America has influenced their perspectives on creating a better life for my sister and I. My father came to America hoping to start a new life and family; however, being an immigrant was hard on him because he barely knew any English and did not have much money. After he became a U.S. citizen, he went back to Iran to find a wife and his new life in America. He met a woman, and after a couple of years of dating,

It was a bright and sunny day on June 3, 1995. Such a good day that I was in the mood to become something different, something that no one would expect to become, but what I had in mind wasn’t what I was hoping for. It was nice out and Brandon and I had some unfinished business we needed to take care of. We got mad at each other earlier that day, got into a big fight and ended up messing up moms’ big day. On top of that, he blamed the whole thing on me which I can never forgive him for, but I can also never forget what happened to Brandon.

It took me a while searching for an interesting persuasive essay that was interesting and changed my mind on an issue because a lot of the articles were unappealing to me. After searching through pages of articles I went back to do a google search and that’s how I ended up finding the article I picked. “Against Headphones” written by By Virginia Heffernan. The subject of the article was something I never really put much thought into.

I have transferred to a different school each year since I was a freshman. My first move I had started to inwardly question the act of personal change, and how it can affect one’s mind. This is the time where I had a plethora of internal conflict relating to one’s change and growth as a person. I remember one day looking at everyone around me and realizing that they've been through change, and that these people have grown into the person they embodied based upon events that have presented themselves in their lives, and whether or not they had overcome these obstacles. And then I thought of something that made me tilt my head slightly, and this thought has been on my mind for four years: people don’t realize how similar they are to each other.

My Mom and I are on our way home on a late Sunday afternoon from shopping and soon getting ready for a great family dinner. We call my grandparents, “Hello! How are you doing honey?” They say to my mother as they don’t know I’m in the car and listening.

Everyone can remember the one decision that changed their life forever. For myself, that decision was to join a swim team. I can remember the one morning when my mom asked me if I wanted to join the team, and I said yes. I did not know it then, but that choice would impact the rest of my life. From that decision I have learned persistence, leadership, and motivation and these qualities will help shape my life forever. I decided to join the team because I wanted to try something new, something exciting, and I had no idea how much of an impact it would have on my life. From my choice, I have learned many qualities that will help determine, shape, and give me an edge for the rest of my life.

I attended an English-speaking school a few months after moving to the United States without knowing any English. It was a huge challenge of my life trying to adapt to the environment.

There were many behaviors that I could have chosen that I need to work on to better my life, such as procrastinating less, sleeping more, or stop chewing my nails, which were all rejected because I chose the more important topic to me, I chose to be more healthy and lose 15 pounds. I chose this because I was not participating in any aerobic activity, was only lifting weights 2 times a week, and need to be in shape for next years basketball season. I designed my project so that I can get the easy stuff under my belt and in the schedule then I add the things that are harder for me so that is all I have to worry about.

There have been a lot of experiences that have defined me and fundamentally changed who I am, whether it metastasized into negativity or cultivated itself into positivity, it drove my core until the very present. Even as I continue to grow, I find myself constantly being challenged in different aptitudes, fighting against forces consciously unknown to me as a child. One experience in particular that I remember, was when I was younger I had been bullied quite a bit. It was actually several racist remarks that had made me cry home to my father, whom was no help to me at all. At the time, I would like to think I knew what racism was. I knew the idea, the concept, and that that concept had rejected my being as something not equal to those who chastised

The most challenging tasks for me to face were to speak in English only and interact with classmates from around the world. At the beginning, I was shocked that I have to handle all the situations by myself without any assistance from my family. The only two words I used most frequently were yes and no. Little by little, with the encouragement by new classmates and teachers I learned how to communicate with what I had learned. Finally, I could catch up with school schedules and fit in the dormitory life. For example, once when I recognized that the season had turned from summer to winter I ordered a quilt with cotton wadding because I knew that I had to take care of myself otherwise it might lead to a asthma trouble.

On September 2, 2014, my life changed forever. This was my first year in high school, and as a freshman, I had my very first agriculture class. Throughout the year, I decided that a career in agricultural education would be in my future. I enjoy working with students to better themselves and preaching the significance of agriculture. I want to impact the lives of our younger generation just as much as my two agricultural teachers have mine. One day, I looked up the average salary of an agricultural educator, and although it wasn’t ideal, I knew that this career would make me happy. After I saw what the salary was, the very first link description said agricultural education shortages. How could this be possible? A lot of high school graduates who have been involved in FFA go to major in agricultural education. Or, at least that is what I thought. I started researching the background of this problem and found that there is an estimated amount of 650 annual agricultural education graduates nationwide. Out of those 650 students, only 460 become teachers (Fargo, 2014). So, where do the others go?