The Importance Of Life In My Life

My life has been a roller coaster. I have learned so much life lesson is just 23 years of my life. Some of them is that not everyone will like you, treat others the way you want to be treated, everything is possible. By the end of this paper you will learn about my struggling past, my life of the present and future I am working to accomplish.

“There will always be a reason why you meet people. Either to change your life or theirs.” I believe that everyone comes into your life for a reason. It’s just our job to decide if it is a blessing or to teach us a lesson. My parents got divorced when I was only three years old and I was an only child, so when my dad and stepmom told me I was going to be an older sister at age eleven I wasn’t super excited. To be completely honest I was kind of upset and scared. I had always lived with my mom and only visited my dad every other weekend, so I figured I wouldn’t have to see her that much anyways which made it a little better. Having been an only child my whole life I had no idea what it would be like, especially since she would be so much younger than me.

Living in a media-driven world often causes many people to attempt to live a life full of plastic, whether it is plastic cards, plastic surgeries, or plastic personalities. As a teenager growing up in the middle of this popular lifestyle, I am at a constant battle with myself of what type of person I will become. My family had a huge impact on my morals that were set at a young age. I looked up to one family member in particular for advice and guidance, my aunt. The most important lesson I learned from my aunt was to live a life worth remembering by understanding that relationships rule, failure is good, and be myself.

On the ceiling of my father’s room wall hung Albert Einstein's frame which had the inscription, “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” Those words greatly inspired me as a teenager. Even in the most difficult moments, those words scream in my head not to give up. I grew up at a time or period in Nigeria when the military junta overthrew the civilian government. The political environment so tensed that it drove away investors. Consequently, the political instability created crippled the economy. The only people that benefited from the military government were their cronies. During this period, the popular middle class disappeared. The gap between the rich and the poor widened. Food shortage arose because the government stopped supporting the farmers through subsidies. Thus, it resulted in the inability of the head of families to provide three square meals for the family. The food scarcity affected my family as well. There were days I would walk long distances to school without eating. Also, on some days, I turned my hunger to fasting. I constantly improvised so I would not get discouraged. In all these, my father kept telling me, “My son, this is a phase in life we all have to go through, everything will be fine.” Despite the tough hurdles I had to cross growing up, I succeeded and became a role model to other teenagers in the neighborhood because of the moral and financial support from my parents, education

My life hasn't always been easy, from a young age I have seen more than some kids my age should. My story is not one that is one full of laughter and countless childhood memories,no, mine is one full of tragedy yet resilience because i am not my story my story is only a part of me.

Happiness to me is the feeling freedom after finally being out of debt; to be able to focus on school instead of working 40+ hours a week. Happiness is proving all the people who doubt me and lack faith in the fact that I’m making it. Happiness is getting to buy some pants, and socks and not worry about not having enough money to eat for the next two weeks. Happiness is making a stranger smile; filling their empty bellies. Happiness for me is relief; a weight falling off my shoulders letting content and joy flow in through my body. Little things make me happy; the cigarette after a long shift at work, the full night of sleep, a shower after a fifteen hour day.

I was born into a dysfunctional family. My father was an alcoholic and a heavy smoker. There were so many financial problems and pure happiness. Everyday my parents would argue about the most minor things. Everyone thought that everything was all roses and unicorns for us, but in reality it was dull and grey. The life I was born into made me want to do things that are looked down upon. Despite all of this my mother was strong and maintained a smile on her face.

I could remember my heart racing and pounding the day I found out I was pregnant. I had chills all over my body and how scared I was of what my family was going to say. I wasn’t ready for the judgmental comments I was going to hear not only from my family, but also from the people who I had mistakenly called my friends.

Hunched under a mango tree trying to find shade from the scorching sun as sweat drips from my scalp to my toes, sizzling as it hits the ground. Temperatures increase day by day in the summer I pray for rain to fall, looking at the stray animals on the roads in craving for water. I gaze off into the distance of barren acres of land, touching the dry, cracked soil and seeing lifeless crops perish due to the boiling heat that I was responsible for. As a boy living in the (countryside) rural areas of India in a middle-class household, everyone in the village was taught at a young age to start working. Even though I was the third child out of my four siblings it didn’t prevent my parents from making me work out in the fields. It was tough having to do manual labor like field tasks to feeding and taking care of the animals every day. As the rooster's crow, I wake up immediately and lay out my school uniform and shower, I brush my hair slicked back, put on my shoes and run off to school with my friends. I quit going to school until the 10th grade because back in the day my parents wouldn't care that much about education like today. It was more about harvesting corn in the summer to plant seeds in the winter. When I was around 20 years old my two older siblings got married and my family decided it was my turn. However, my father tried to encourage me to do something in life first and not sit at home and drink or smoke so he opened a pharmacy, that didn't work out so long due to my

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” My family always asked me. If I were doing what I thought I would be doing when I was a kid, I would be in Hollywood by now. I would be on the must see Thursday night comedy/drama show. This was my life long dream until I hit eighth grade I realized I was camera shy. So like everyone else it was onto the next passion, right? It took me until high school to appreciate how strong my passion for space was. Every night I would stare at the moon, more and more. Eventually, My love for the moon became a want to travel to the moon. “I’m going to make it up there one day” I would always say. Until someone my early junior year of high school told me to give it up because the space companies were gong down the whole, and by the time I would graduate I would have no job.

Much to my chagrin turns out Chindi was right it has been over two months! Shame on us! Did you think we had given up? No, we will never surrender!

Happily, several things I have aspired to achieve in my younger years, have finally come to fruition in the autumn days of my life. Despite not winning the lottery (yet), I have been lucky enough to accomplish most of those “dreams” I had fantasized about in my younger years. But it wasn't until recently, I found my niche in the world of free-lance writing. Taunting and vexing me, fate dangled the golden apple of writing and paid opportunities in front of my wanting eyes for years. Now, as I look out into the inspiring skyline of my city from not one, but two directions, I can not only take pride in one of my goals being realized, but |I can do it from the comfort of my home and corner office - in my pyjamas.

Death is never easy. It is difficult for the families that have to face it and even more so for the person going through it. I have been a hospice volunteer for about a year now, and as one, I visit patients that are near their lives’ end and try to ease them and their family into a smooth and peaceful transition. Originally I did it with the thought of simply getting community service hours to fulfill medical school requirements, simply visiting the patients once a week for an hour. But every time I leave, I am left with the feeling that I could’ve done more. Therefore, I started to go more often and stayed longer with the patients each week, from once a week to three time a week, and from one hour to almost 3 hours each time. And each time I visit, I like to think that I have made their life just a little bit better. Throughout this year of serving, my patients have taught me a great deal. One of the things they have taught me is lifetime.

In my lifetime I have met lots of different people. Different races, genders, religions,and everything in between. One person in particular who has made the biggest impact on me goes by the name, Adrian. Adrian represents everything that I strive to be in life. Adrian to me symbolizes a person who works hard, happiness even when life is tough, and my career.

As an young boy you never really think about how your life can completely change forever. For me my childhood was filled with legos and beach days and eating all the junk food I could imagine. My young, sweet life was great. That’s it. Just great. I never really thought it would change into something that I would forever be stuck with. Something that would screw up my daily routine, my habits and hobbies, and most of all, my junk food. Type one Diabetes would attach its disgusting self to me and in my boyhood mind, ruin my life forever. I was just an eleven year old sixth grader. Too young to realize that my condition could change my life in a good way.