The Importance Of My Life

Courage to continue on with my education and to become a better person through learning. I have also stumbled myself through discipline, after much thought i have finally got myself to continue on with my education. I was always good at school but distractions got the best out of me, now that I have a purpose in life I have disciplined myself to continue on with my

I was blessed with a happy childhood filled with good memories and a supporting group of family ,friends and teachers. However, by the time I was thirteen, I had constantly been getting into trouble in school and at home. I would get into unnecessary fights both on the playground and off. Texting has become the note-passing of twenty-First-century bullies and this was the way people treated me. At home, I would get into conflict with my parents because of the sad news of my grades. They cared about my future, but I didn’t. Growing up with an older brother who constantly did well in school made me feel inferior, isolated and lonely. It felt like my parents believed he would succeed, but that I wouldn't. Similar to the animated television series “Tom and Jerry” my parents would see my brother as Jerry, the innocent one, and me as Tom, the big cruel one.

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.”- Dr. Seuss. Though the phrase “who am I?” is composed of three simple, elementary words, the weight it holds is great. In life, growing up and finding yourself go hand in hand. When I think of who I am today at 17, many flashbacks of moments come to mind; people, places and experiences. All of which, have impacted not only my character but my personality as well.

Sarah Elizabeth Ramirez was an important person in my life. She impacted my life so much. Some people might find it weird that a newborn baby impacted my life, maybe because the fact that they can’t speak nor open their eyes, but it’s true. We should never underestimate something or someone on how big or small it is.

Sometimes it takes people awhile to figure out what they want to do in life. Many people know as kids what they want to be when they grow up. Some people hop from job to job trying to find what makes them happy. I wasn’t the kid who just knew, so I was stuck for a while after graduating high school. I just could not find what I wanted to do or be in life. I didn’t have the drive to do more with my life. My goal was to just graduate high school. I was a kid who was still at home with my parents, and yet to find my calling on this Earth. My life quickly changed when I turned 19 and became pregnant. I knew I had to do more and be more for my child. I didn’t want to be another statistic that fell by the waste side and depended on the government for help me and my kid.

When I was younger I did not know much about life and playing football. A lot of the people that my family and I met throughout my life are because of football and how much I loved to play it. When people get older they usually decide to move around what they want to do in life. The main idols that are in my life currently aren’t anyone; they remain no one because, I would like to see what I would become in life and see where life would take me. A quote that I always remember when doing everything in life is “Keep moving forward no matter what you are doing”.

Growing up my family has always been there to provide for me. Now, I am in college away from the nest but never far enough that I still cannot fly back home. A year or so after graduation, I expect to be living on my own, without the protective wing of my parents overshadowing me. In order for me to achieve this freedom, I will need a steady job and a place to live. Simple! However, for me to achieve a happy life on my own, I will need to do a lot more than just make a living. I could consider myself free from my parents if I lived under the freeway in a cardboard box; however, that life would not further my personal freedom to be happy. Achieving happiness and contentment in life is not easy; the steps taken to cultivate joy in my life that are found in the paragraphs below are going to be hard but worth it. I would like to be happy in the future by keeping my body in the best physical condition possible, working at a job that brings me joy, and loving a woman with all of my heart.

“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.

Life for me has always been making mistakes and learning from them. I’ve always been open to different experiences in life but I do have some boundaries. I know that everyone’s life in this world is different than every other person. I have been really close to my mom my whole life. I talk to her for hours and share my feeling, and tell her how my day goes. Whenever I had a problem, I knew that my mom would fix it for me, and once I tell her about it everything is going to be okay. I perpetually respect my parents and want to appreciate them for they do for me. I am really lucky that I have parents. Now as I became a teenager, I continuously thought that I would never change, my life would never change, I will always stay the same.

I believe anyone has the ability to change anyones mood. I believe one person can make me feel awful about myself. I believe one person has the power to fill me with joy, and laughter. I believe one person can ruin my day with just a couple awful words. I believe one person impacts another. At a young age I realized how much happiness one person brought me. When I was nine years old I then realized one person can also fill you with sadness.

from then on my path was set. I had made my decision, I would run. Throughout my childhood I was always the short one. I could not say I was not athletic, but you would not see my making plays and scoring goals. I was always hesitant, worried for all of their safeties, worried for my own safety. Needles to say football was not my sport, but we will come back to that. I played almost every sport I could think of, I played Basketball, I played Baseball, I played Soccer, I played football, and almost every track event that they let me in. sadly, I wasn’t very good at any of them.

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.

Lives began to change when my brother August was born. My life was changing in

I was always told as a child that I would have that moment. The moment in which you would know instantly that you were created for something better than yourself- the moment a ‘light bulb’ per se would go off in your head. Growing up, I have struggled trying to find this moment. My parents taught me the value of hard work, and no matter what my moment would be I would need to work for it. Between being a full time high school and part time college student, holding leadership positions in many extracurricular activities, playing a varsity sport, volunteering with many organizations, and working part time, I learned time management and graduated in the top ten of my high school graduating class with distinction and honors. The study skills and organization methods I learned soon carried over to my college experience when my school and work load equally doubled creating a hectic atmosphere. Many people have asked me why I add unneeded stress in my life by becoming a part of my college by representing organizations on different ends of the spectrum, and why I sometimes pull a thirty hour work week to compensate someone else needing time off.

Sitting under the umbrella, hearing the waves rush to the shore and knowing that it may be months before I would get to be with my friends again, I realized that I would be ok. My life had changed so much since I had arrived, four months previously. I had come to an understanding that I had wasted so much time not appreciating the person I was, and focusing on all the things I wasn’t, and looking for happiness by trying to please and be like others thought I should be. I didn’t love myself, and I wasn’t happy. But here, in St. Augustine, Florida, the oldest city in our nation, I had a rebirth, of sorts. I learned that I was enough, as long as I was becoming who I was meant to be, and that being happy was a choice.