Being true to yourself is key, a key to opening the lock to a much brighter and promising future. I have held onto this value for as long as I can remember, not because I grew up with school teachers constantly reinforcing the concept nor is it because everybody around me thinks that that is the way to live. I choose to live this way because I know that it is the right path to follow. I don’t live the ideal life, nobody does, but I wouldn’t trade mines in for anything. The lessons that I have learned and the obstacles that I have overcome I hold dear, it’s because of those struggles that I am set apart from everyone else. I am fortunate for those misfortunes and I am motivated knowing that there is always a light at the end of any tunnel, no matter how dark or how long, I know I’ll get through it because I am not ashamed of who I am or where I came from.


I pretty much grew up on my own, my parents were always at work and I had no siblings to go to for help. Picture a kid with his notebooks and textbooks on the floor, it’s way past his bedtime but he has to get the homework done, he doesn’t have the internet as a resource so he constantly scans through the chapters to find a way to solve the problems, just a kid at home alone, that kid is me. I don’t regret growing up like this, I find value living in this type of family. I understand that my parents are committed to their jobs and I understand they only work as hard as they do because of me. They expect me to take advantage of the opportunities they are opening up for me, ones that they weren’t fortunate enough to have when they were my age. At the same time they are also teaching me to be independent, a necessity to any successful life.