Shaping ME!
Dedicated. If I had to choose one word that captured me essentially, it’s dedicated. There has never been a time in my life where I have put no effort into anything I do—school, sports, friendships, family, and so much more. Since kindergarten, I have always been intrigued with the academic and life lessons that my various teachers would teach me. I think being interested in school is what really struck my dedication to everything I do in life. Every assignment, project, challenge, and lesson I would pour my heart into; whether that meant staying up late to finish something, getting help from teachers and tutors, or asking questions, I would do whatever I could possibly do to succeed in school. Yes, I did face challenges and failures, but because of my dedication to doing well in school, I would take the criticism and learn off of it. My school dedication shifted into sports. I started at a very young age doing gymnastics. While I wasn’t amazing at it, I stayed with the sport for nine years and put so much into it. My love for gymnastics has never dwindled but I transitioned into playing golf. Golf has really helped shaped me into the person I am today by throwing different mental and physical challenges at me. Finally, friends and family. I’ve always had friends, but I put as much effort into my friends as I put into my family—my friends are my family too. I stick around rather it gets bad or it stays good because that is just how I am—dedicated. Being dedicated in life is a really important quality to have and I am proud that I have that amazing quality.
Dedication is a trait that my dad has passed on to me. My dad is the most dedicated person I have ever met. He is the smartest person I know and I swear he knows something about everything. He works super hard in his job to make sure he is being a good boss to all of his employees and he is also super dedicated to keeping my mom and I happy. Not only does he do an amazing job with us and his job, but he is also dedicated to staying sober. Before my dad met my mom, he was an alcoholic. When he met my mom, he became dedicated to getting clean and not drinking anymore. He did everything he could to get sober and in the end he went back to college, got his degree, married my mom, and had me all while staying clean. I am so proud of him for being able to do that and stay dedicated to being sober for 19 years. To say I am simply grateful for my dad would be an understatement. There are so many amazing things he has passed down to me and done for me and I wouldn’t be the person I am today without him.
As I grow up and shape into an adult, I hope to stay the dedicated person I am today. My first year of college is approaching fast and if I don’t have that characteristic, I will struggle to make it through nursing school. I want to be a nurse after college and hopefully grow a loving family. This will all be possible with the dedication I have to school, family, and friends. Along with dedicated, I want to be successful in life. My grandpa is the most successful person I know and I have always looked up to that. I want to make something of myself and be great just like he did. I really care about my life and making a name for myself and I hope that with my qualities, I can.
Dedicated. If I had to choose one word that captured me essentially, it’s dedicated. There has never been a time in my life where I have put no effort into anything I do—school, sports, friendships, family, and so much more. Since kindergarten, I have always been intrigued with the academic and life lessons that my various teachers would teach me. I think being interested in school is what really struck my dedication to everything I do in life. Every assignment, project, challenge, and lesson I would pour my heart into; whether that meant staying up late to finish something, getting help from teachers and tutors, or asking questions, I would do whatever I could possibly do to succeed in school. Yes, I did face challenges and failures, but because of my dedication to doing well in school, I would take the criticism and learn off of it. My school dedication shifted into sports. I started at a very young age doing gymnastics. While I wasn’t amazing at it, I stayed with the sport for nine years and put so much into it. My love for gymnastics has never dwindled but I transitioned into playing golf. Golf has really helped shaped me into the person I am today by throwing different mental and physical challenges at me. Finally, friends and family. I’ve always had friends, but I put as much effort into my friends as I put into my family—my friends are my family too. I stick around rather it gets bad or it stays good because that is just how I am—dedicated. Being dedicated in life is a really important quality to have and I am proud that I have that amazing quality.
Dedication is a trait that my dad has passed on to me. My dad is the most dedicated person I have ever met. He is the smartest person I know and I swear he knows something about everything. He works super hard in his job to make sure he is being a good boss to all of his employees and he is also super dedicated to keeping my mom and I happy. Not only does he do an amazing job with us and his job, but he is also dedicated to staying sober. Before my dad met my mom, he was an alcoholic. When he met my mom, he became dedicated to getting clean and not drinking anymore. He did everything he could to get sober and in the end he went back to college, got his degree, married my mom, and had me all while staying clean. I am so proud of him for being able to do that and stay dedicated to being sober for 19 years. To say I am simply grateful for my dad would be an understatement. There are so many amazing things he has passed down to me and done for me and I wouldn’t be the person I am today without him.
As I grow up and shape into an adult, I hope to stay the dedicated person I am today. My first year of college is approaching fast and if I don’t have that characteristic, I will struggle to make it through nursing school. I want to be a nurse after college and hopefully grow a loving family. This will all be possible with the dedication I have to school, family, and friends. Along with dedicated, I want to be successful in life. My grandpa is the most successful person I know and I have always looked up to that. I want to make something of myself and be great just like he did. I really care about my life and making a name for myself and I hope that with my qualities, I can.
Unexpected Life Lessons
When I was told to choose a person that has shaped me into the person I am today without it being someone big in my life, I had no idea who I would choose. It was not until Mrs. McDougal showed the TedTalk “Everyday Leadership” given by Drew Dudley that I could think of a person. He discussed how he brought two people together simply by giving one a lollipop, and now the two remember him as someone with a big impact on their lives. Similar to that, someone randomly had a huge impact on my life.
My junior season of golf I got a new golf coach, Coach Hoover. I had no idea who he was or what to think of him. He kind of scared me, not going to lie. His past experience consisted of coaching wrestling and being the boys golf assistant coach, so I immediately knew that he was not going to be easy on us. Throughout my junior and senior year he continually pushed me harder and harder to be a better golfer, and ultimately, a better person. I genuinely did not believe that he would become such a big part of my life and have such a huge impact on me. Hoover always taught me to be respectful of others and to not sweat the small stuff. Those are the two most valuable lessons that I take away from him and that I will carry on for the rest of my life. Everyday before practice we would have a small “team meeting” to discuss upcoming events and the outline for the day. If someone was disrespectful during that time, they would instantly be yelled at. By him yelling at us for that, we were able to grow into respectful adults. I know it for sure helped me gain more respect for those around me, regardless of if I like the person. In golf especially, it is so easy to get upset over one shot, and what I value so much about Hoover is that he didn’t tolerate it if we were upset. He would treat us like big girls and not baby us which has helped me grow a stronger mentality in golf and other aspects of my life. Although he hasn’t been a big person in my life, he has for sure taught me how to be a respectful and strong woman that I will cherish forever. |
Only Child Syndrome
I am an only child and to be completely honest, I like being the only child most of the time. The nicest thing about being an only child is not having to share things with your siblings or compete for your parents attention. As an only child, I get both of those things. Some may say that being an only child automatically means that I am a spoiled brat and get whatever I want, well that is definitely not true in my case. Both of my parents grew up in families where they had siblings; oftentimes, this causes them to take the way they were brought up and apply it to raising me. So I have heard the word “no” and I have been told to get a job to make my own money. They always tell me that part of growing up is accepting the fact that you cannot always have your way which is completely valid. My parents have done a great job in shaping me into the person that I am today, and I do not believe that being an only child makes me entitled.
Along with that, being an only child does not necessarily take me out of birth order stereotypes. I definitely fit into a specific birth order, meaning I act either like child one, two, or three in a family with multiple kids. My personality is more relatable to the first born child. Typically the first born is overly-responsible, a perfectionist, and reliable. All of these adjectives represent me STRONGLY as a person. In school and everything I do, I triple check literally everything making me overly-responsible. I also make sure I follow all of the rules, adding to my over responsibility. In sports and school particularly, my perfectionism shines through. If something is not done right or I keep messing up, I will consistently try again to fix the issue. Being reliable is a very important part of who I am. If someone needs me and I am free, I will drop everything to be there for that person. People around me mean the world to me. My reliability can also be applied to jobs—I will always show up. While I act much like a first born, my parents are pretty lenient on me much like a third born child. They trust that I will make the right decisions, so they are not as hard on me as they could be. I am very grateful for the life that I have, and I would never take any of that for granted.
Along with that, being an only child does not necessarily take me out of birth order stereotypes. I definitely fit into a specific birth order, meaning I act either like child one, two, or three in a family with multiple kids. My personality is more relatable to the first born child. Typically the first born is overly-responsible, a perfectionist, and reliable. All of these adjectives represent me STRONGLY as a person. In school and everything I do, I triple check literally everything making me overly-responsible. I also make sure I follow all of the rules, adding to my over responsibility. In sports and school particularly, my perfectionism shines through. If something is not done right or I keep messing up, I will consistently try again to fix the issue. Being reliable is a very important part of who I am. If someone needs me and I am free, I will drop everything to be there for that person. People around me mean the world to me. My reliability can also be applied to jobs—I will always show up. While I act much like a first born, my parents are pretty lenient on me much like a third born child. They trust that I will make the right decisions, so they are not as hard on me as they could be. I am very grateful for the life that I have, and I would never take any of that for granted.
Lifestyle Changes
Recently life has taken a huge shift. Life has been stalled. I can’t go to school. My senior spring break got cancelled. I may not get to have a senior prom. I may not get to have fun senior week or senior choice awards. I may not even have a graduation. Life sucks right now, and that is no joke. This horrible virus, COVID-19, has taken over life, killed thousands of Americans, and killed the economy. Words cannot explain how frustrated I am that this situation had to happen MY senior year of high school. So many things are being taken away from me and my fellow seniors and it is truly devastating.
There seems to be no end to this. The media is making the situation way worse than it already is by giving no hope and leaving people like me afraid that life will never be normal again. All I want is my life back. I want to be out of quarantine. I want to be able to see my friends again in school. I want to be able to go out and celebrate my 18th birthday. None of this seems possible with the way things are going. Do I sound a little selfish right now? Maybe, but I think I deserve to be because of the situation. Of course I don’t want people to die and of course I am going to follow the guidelines, but it doesn’t mean that I cannot be sad over what is being taken from me and my classmates. I keep praying for an end sooner, and I know God is listening, it is just hard to believe that this will all eventually end.
Not only are seniors being affected by this virus, but MILLIONS of workers. Just today (March 27th, 2020), unemployment reached a record high of 3.3 million. These numbers are incredibly high. People cannot go to work because of the risk of spreading the virus. I am very fortunate that my dad was lucky enough to keep his job, but for the millions that couldn’t I am heartbroken for. They are struggling to provide for their families because of this. I understand why people cannot work right now, but how long can our country really handle this before being sent into a depression. We cannot put our lives on hold for very long. Our country will have to figure something out to help the issue before it is too late for many americans. Yes, I care about the health of people, but I also care about the long term effects this may have on people financially.
I hope this comes to an end soon so we can all get on with our lives. This is the first time talking about it on my blog because I have been mainly journaling instead.
There seems to be no end to this. The media is making the situation way worse than it already is by giving no hope and leaving people like me afraid that life will never be normal again. All I want is my life back. I want to be out of quarantine. I want to be able to see my friends again in school. I want to be able to go out and celebrate my 18th birthday. None of this seems possible with the way things are going. Do I sound a little selfish right now? Maybe, but I think I deserve to be because of the situation. Of course I don’t want people to die and of course I am going to follow the guidelines, but it doesn’t mean that I cannot be sad over what is being taken from me and my classmates. I keep praying for an end sooner, and I know God is listening, it is just hard to believe that this will all eventually end.
Not only are seniors being affected by this virus, but MILLIONS of workers. Just today (March 27th, 2020), unemployment reached a record high of 3.3 million. These numbers are incredibly high. People cannot go to work because of the risk of spreading the virus. I am very fortunate that my dad was lucky enough to keep his job, but for the millions that couldn’t I am heartbroken for. They are struggling to provide for their families because of this. I understand why people cannot work right now, but how long can our country really handle this before being sent into a depression. We cannot put our lives on hold for very long. Our country will have to figure something out to help the issue before it is too late for many americans. Yes, I care about the health of people, but I also care about the long term effects this may have on people financially.
I hope this comes to an end soon so we can all get on with our lives. This is the first time talking about it on my blog because I have been mainly journaling instead.
Grateful and Afraid
Times are definitely not easy right now and I think that I speak for more than just myself. We are in a time of fear and adaptations. Teenagers who are social butterflies, like me, are being forced to stay at home. People are losing their jobs. Us seniors don’t get to go to school for the last time and have all of the experiences that we looked forward to. I think the most difficult aspect of this situation would have to be never going to school again. Center Grove has been my home since kindergarten and my classmates and I don’t get to finish it how we want to finish it—we may not even have a graduation which is by far the scariest part of this all. I was looking forward to the moment when I could walk across the stage in the gym and say “I did it!” While I know I will still graduate, I just may not get that opportunity to walk across the stage.
It is definitely mentally draining to always have that thought in the back of my mind that my senior year is ruined, but this time has also allowed me to become more grateful for what I have. My dad still has a job, but he only has to go into work for a few hours then he is home for the rest of the day. He is home for dinner every night, and we go golf together too. I never realized how amazing it is to have my dad around this much because before this, he was barely home—it was just my mom and I. I have become so grateful for my family during this time of isolation. We eat dinner, play games, and watch movies almost every night as a family. This time has also allowed me to build a stronger relationship with God. Every night before bed I read a chapter from The Bible and typically create some journal art with it—it puts me at peace with the situation. There are still times when I get upset over the situation, but I believe that we will prevail in the end of this and have a better life. The hardest part, socially, would have to be the fact that I can’t just go out and have fun with my friends any more. We can't go out to eat, go to the mall, or hang out in big groups. I am grateful that my parents let me see my best friend Julia, but that is because I am with her everyday and she is the only person that I can see. When we hang out all we do is watch movies, talk, or play games and it just gets monotonous. I’d give anything to be able to go out to eat again with my friends and hang with more people, but I do understand the risk of doing those things. I know the sacrifices that we are making now will make the situation better. Physically, I have definitely not been exercising as much so I feel less fit. I keep telling myself that I am going to exercise...it just hasn’t happened yet. I also just eat because I’m bored I think because I never eat this much.
It is definitely mentally draining to always have that thought in the back of my mind that my senior year is ruined, but this time has also allowed me to become more grateful for what I have. My dad still has a job, but he only has to go into work for a few hours then he is home for the rest of the day. He is home for dinner every night, and we go golf together too. I never realized how amazing it is to have my dad around this much because before this, he was barely home—it was just my mom and I. I have become so grateful for my family during this time of isolation. We eat dinner, play games, and watch movies almost every night as a family. This time has also allowed me to build a stronger relationship with God. Every night before bed I read a chapter from The Bible and typically create some journal art with it—it puts me at peace with the situation. There are still times when I get upset over the situation, but I believe that we will prevail in the end of this and have a better life. The hardest part, socially, would have to be the fact that I can’t just go out and have fun with my friends any more. We can't go out to eat, go to the mall, or hang out in big groups. I am grateful that my parents let me see my best friend Julia, but that is because I am with her everyday and she is the only person that I can see. When we hang out all we do is watch movies, talk, or play games and it just gets monotonous. I’d give anything to be able to go out to eat again with my friends and hang with more people, but I do understand the risk of doing those things. I know the sacrifices that we are making now will make the situation better. Physically, I have definitely not been exercising as much so I feel less fit. I keep telling myself that I am going to exercise...it just hasn’t happened yet. I also just eat because I’m bored I think because I never eat this much.
Updates on how Corona is Affecting Me
Life is getting better right now. While life was not necessarily HARD, because I do have a lot more than most do, it was still hard dealing with the fact that my senior year is over. I was one of the few that was able to look at this whole pandemic in a grateful kind of way despite it still being horrible at the same time. With that being said, I am still grateful for everything that I have, but I am even more grateful now that things are SLOWLY going back to normal. The key there is slowly. In my opinion, the only way that this country can ever be normal again is if states take precautions when opening, which I believe Indiana is doing. People can finally get back to their jobs and normal routines while still practicing social distancing. My friends and I can finally go out again and do things outside of the house. Even though all of these things are great and I am super excited, I have come to accept the fact that some things will be normal but social distancing will become a part of the “new normal.” Life will never be exactly how it was prior to this pandemic. I am not afraid of what may happen after opening because we have to open at some point. Our country cannot suffer being locked down for much long without falling into another great depression; I fear more for the highly susceptible like grandparents. The only thing we can do to protect the susceptible is to practice good hygiene and social distancing for them. I am optimistic that this country will come out on top of this pandemic stronger if we all do our part. Life will be better and I will continue to follow that.