Perseverance

Early in the year my dad passed away. It was not a sudden thing though, for years my dad struggled with depression, constantly going in a downhill spiral. The day we got the news, I went straight to my morning skating lesson and school after. I continued on with my life like everything was normal. At the time I thought that this was perseverance. But, a month or so later I stopped showing up for school. It wasn't because I simply didn't want to go, it was physically painful for me to get out of bed. It took me months to get out of this, everyday I fought with myself to start my day. My mom knew what was going on, but she didn't have the strength or time to talk to me. I couldn't let her down, she had picked herself up and persevered so much, so inspired me to make myself get up every morning, no matter what I was feeling. I didn't do this by myself, so I can't take the credit. But I'm so proud that I was able to get myself out of that mess. Because if I didn't persevere, I would probably still be in bed today.

Perspective

Perspective, for me, is difficult to connect to my life. I tend to just blow through the day, not taking a second glance at anything, not changing my viewing point. 2014 has brought an abundance of changes to my life and really has made me look at it from different perspectives. I have had to take charge in my life and help support my family, financially and emotionally. Beginning every morning attempting to wake up my brothers and sister has made me realize that I can't only look out for myself. I can't yell at every little mistake or let my anger get a hold of me. I have to take a step back and think about how they don't want to get woken up early in the morning with me yelling. I have to change my perspective daily to allow the people in my life to have the best day possible, instead of putting myself first.

Goals

I have two separate goals this year, one for the Rec Leadership class and one for myself.

Class Goal: I would like to branch out with my volunteering. I tend to stay in my comfort zone and help with my skating club for hours. My goal is to volunteer at least 5 times this year, helping outside of the skating community.

Personal Goal: My attendance took a beating last year, I just didn't get out of bed. This year I would really like to get up when I have to and drag myself to school. I don't just want to be at school though, I would like to be listening and participating in discussions and activities. Getting myself back to going to school everyday is my personal goal.